"This thesis reveals that millions of poor persons who could not access formal financial services owing to various reasons such as failure to meet banks' documentary requirements use mobile money in Zimbabwe and other countries."
He says mobile money has been invaluable since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Public health experts encouraged people across the world to use contactless payment systems to combat the spread of the virus. "Mobile money allows people to transact using their mobile phones and this provides a measure of safety and convenience to users, especially the poor," says Elfas.
"However, the use of mobile money requires robust regulation to combat financial crimes such as fraud, money laundering and terrorist financing," he says.
Current regulation lacks consistency
Although mobile money has been in Zimbabwe since 2011, the legislature has not enacted a statute that expressly regulates it.
Elfas points out that financial regulators and law enforcement authorities are using incoherent provisions from various statutes to regulate mobile money, resulting in various flaws in the mobile money regulatory framework.
"This thesis reveals that the Zimbabwean National Payment Systems Act, as amended, does not define mobile money. Furthermore, the Act does not make specific provision for mobile money. The Banking Act, as amended, uses the terms 'mobile money' and 'mobile banking' interchangeably. However, this thesis reveals that the two terms are distinct and connote different meanings, hence they cannot be synonyms."
Zimbabwe's Banking Regulations 2020 mention mobile money but do not provide a definition and/or provisions that directly and robustly regulate mobile money in Zimbabwe.
Elfas's study, with its emphasis on regulation, could go a long way towards enabling financial services regulators to promote the financial inclusion of the poor in Zimbabwe and other developing countries.
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