The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on Friday announced new measures to address mobile banking deficiencies in its Monetary Policy Statement (MPS).
The Central Bank issued a directive to the effect that, with immediate effect, all mobile money operators have to close all multiple wallets and allow just one wallet per individual.
This entails that it is no longer permitted for an individual to have more than one EcoCash account or with other mobile money operators for that matter. The RBZ said:
Following the suspension and freezing of agent and bulk-payer wallets on 27 June 2020, mobile money operators have allowed illegal foreign currency dealers to use multiple individual wallets as a means to bypass the transaction limits and continue with their illicit transactions.
However, the central bank did not explain a few grey areas in implementing its directive. For instance: Will people with multiple mobile wallets from one provider be the only ones affected? If someone has one Telecash, EcoCash and OneMoney wallet are they safe or they too will have those closed?
The directive also did not shed light on what will happen to money in the accounts being closed and in event that an individual has multiple wallets, it’s not clear how mobile money operators determine which account to close.