BoB anticipates more payment gateways
services providers, Orange Money is transforming into a subsidiary of Orange Botswana to spur the company towards a stronger focus of driving the mobile financial services strategy.
“We are currently engaged in an internal transformation project to complete the separation of the telco and mobile financial services operations,” said Orange Money Chief Executive Officer, Seabelo Pilane. Mosanako said there are several benefits to be derived from well- regulated and supervised payments systems which include promotion of a competitive, accessible and inclusive payment infrastructure and services, available to a wider population, particularly given the high mobile phone density in the country.
She said the development should also lead to democratisation of the payment systems by fostering orderly entry into, and growth of, the market as well as creating a level playing field between financial institutions and emerging non- financial firms. “In turn, the prospective entry of a large number of well- regulated, innovative and dynamic players is likely to prevent any potential for abuse of market power and, in turn, create competitive market conditions in the provision of retail payments in Botswana. This is expected to promote digital payments readiness in Botswana,” Mosanako said.
As money payment gateways open, the new regulations require mobile money providers to maintain a dedicated trust account with a supervised bank in order to ring- fence and safeguard customer funds, to guard against risk. In addition, there are transaction limits in place such as that a single mobile money transaction cannot exceed P10 000, a daily transaction limit of P15 000 and a monthly limit of P30 000. Mosanako further said the application of the regulations and monitoring mechanisms facilitates data and information compilation and analysis. She highlighted that the data will contribute to policy development and regulatory approaches as would be necessary to support growth of the industry, mitigate risk and safeguard the interest of consumers.