Maravi

Barclays hails new 'fraud-proof' system

Barclays hails new 'fraud-proof' system
By Kabanda Chulu
Tuesday May 29, 2007 [04:00]

BARCLAYS Bank Zambia acting managing director Bedah Salasini yesterday said the newly launched national payment system will help reduce fraud cases in the banking sector. Salasini said the new payment system rules would not only enhance operational efficiency but also work to curtail frauds by limiting payments that could be made through cheques.

"Cheque payments have been a major source of frauds and this initiative will also improve liquidity and drive a credit push in the economy as people are now able to receive value on transactions in real-time or much quicker than before," Salasini said.

Last month commercial banks launched the item value limit system which was designed for processing high value payment instruments in the interbank clearing system at set thresholds.

The initial thresholds for cheque and direct debit credit transactions would be K100 million while for direct debit transaction it would be K50 million.

Salasini said the bank's retail expansion drive was a reflection of the positive economic strides currently prevailing in the country.

"The Barclays Bank Zambia retail expansion drive reflects the positive economic strides which the government has achieved over the last few years and we believe that economic fundamentals will continue to improve and we want to complement government's effort by taking affordable banking services and products to everyone," Salasini said.

"And regarding our strategy on the corporate segment of our business, we recognise that both the treasury and corporate business in Zambia continues to have huge potential, therefore our focus and strategy on both segments of our business remains strong and we are planning a rapid development of new products and services offered from both segments."

He said construction work at the Chilenje Branch was under way and it would be officially opened soon.

Labels: BANKING, BARCLAYS BANK

posted by MrK @ 4:59 AM