EcoCash & others given until 30 September to connect to ZimSwitch

The assumed deadline for the ZimSwitch’s role as the national switch was the 15th of August 2020. That deadline has passed and that led many to wonder when this measure will come into effect. Earlier this week sources at EcoCash revealed that they hadn’t met the deadline that was set by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

It would have been something of a miracle if the parties involved were able to able to intergrate by the 15th of August. In light of all of this, the RBZ’s Monetary Policy Statement gave something of an update as to the progress of all parties involved:

Pursuant to the statutory instrument, the Bank designated ZimswitchTechnologies (Private) Limited (Zimswitch) as a national payment switch, and required all payment service providers, including mobile payment operators, to be connected thereto.

With all banks and some mobile payment operators already connected to Zimswitch, connectivity by all payment service providers is expected to be completed by 30 September 2020.

Monetary Policy Statement

It is worth mentioning that outside of EcoCash mobile money operators like Telecash & OneMoney already had Zimswitch integration. However, making ZimSwitch the national switch is integration on a far deeper level. This isn’t easily achieved because EcoCash sits on a different platform and to put them on ZimSwitch was always going to be an undertaking.

Lastly, it’s safe to say that since EcoCash and others missed the original deadline. The 30th of September is surely a date that all parties involved had agreed to.