BOZ ALERT ON FRAUD DURING FESTIVE PERIOD
THE Bank of Zambia (BoZ) is alert in safeguarding people’s money, especially during the current period of the festive season where the industry becomes more prone to attacks such as fraud.
The banking industry becomes more vulnerable to attacks such as fraud and hacking during this period of festivities and this has potential to destabilize the sector, BoZ Governor Denny Kalayla has acknowledged.
Dr Kalyalya emphasisesd that the Central bank was aware that fraud and hacking was a preoccupation of some people in the country, thereby welcoming the introduction of the cyber security and data protection laws.
He said this yesterday in Lusaka where he was discussing greening the economy at the just ended Zambia Impact Investment Summit held under the theme “building a sustainable, inclusive and green recovery.”
“This is why we welcome the introduction of the cyber security and data protection laws. These are extremely important especially during this time of the year when a lot of fishing activities happen by illegally getting people’s money.
“These laws are also important in detecting activities such as money laundering as it can come through that. Our focus as Central Bank is how to safeguard information for clients,” Dr Kalyalya said.
Meanwhile, Dr Kalayalya indicated that the Central Bank was concerned with climate change as it had an adverse impact on price stability which was one of the core primary objectives of the Bank.
He explained that climate change such as floods which in some instances washed away crops had adverse effects on food prices.
“Our primary objectives is price and financial system stability in the market. Now you have observed that in the recent past, we had a lot of natural calamities such as droughts and temperatures have risen.
“When crops are washed away crops for example, it means that crop will not be available which will then create a shortage and that shortage will be reflected in the rise of prices [inflation]. There then becomes a connection with the Central bank of having a low and stable inflation. So if food prices go up, clearly that has an effect on our mission,” Dr Kalyalya said.