Zimbabwe’s RTGS Central Money Transfer System Down

Update: The RTGS systems was restored on 19 August

If you’re in Zimbabwe and made some payments through your bank yesterday or today that didn’t go through, it’s not just you – and it’s not just your bank.

The RBZ has acknowledged that it’s experiencing a “technical challenge”. Essentially, the RBZ-operated RTGS system is down. And, according to a notice by one of the banks, telegraphic transfers (payments to and from outside Zimbabwe such as that BeForward payment for your car) are also affected.

From what we can tell, the disruption began on the morning of 18 August. It’s well over 24 hours now and there’s no indication it has been resolved. In its public notice released yesterday, the RBZ did not commit to a time they expect the problem to be resolved.

The central bank’s public notice only said:

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe wishes to notify all stakeholders of a technical challenge being experienced on our network. This is affecting most systems and may result in delays in some banking services. We are working diligently to restore all services and will be providing updates as necessary.

The RBZ has not disclosed the cause of the outage, whether it is a hardware failure, software issue, or another kind of disruption.

A notice by one large bank, FBC, said:

Please be advised that we are currently experiencing delays in processing the following transactions due to a technical challenge on the service provider’s network:

• Real-Time Gross Settlement(RTGS)
• Outward Telegraphic Transfers
• Inward Telegraphic Transfers

Zimbabwe’s RTGS system is essentially the backbone of Zimbabwe’s financial system. It moves money between banks, so it being down is a pretty big deal.

How RTGS Works

When you make an RTGS transfer (say from Stanbic to CBZ), your bank sends instructions through RBZ’s RTGS system.

RBZ then debits Stanbic’s account and credits CBZ’s account. CBZ in turn credits the recipient’s account, meaning the recipient can “see” the money.

When RTGS is down, that means the recipients of the money you’re transferring just won’t receive it. For businesses paying for products, this causes huge delays getting whatever it is they are buying, delays that ultimately affected consumers too. Essentially, the economy slows down.