Zambia Interbank Payment and Settlement System (ZIPSS) volumes and values reached US$115.5mn in 2014 up from US$19.2mn in 2006
ZIPSS is an electronic payment system, which provides banks with the facility to monitor their settlement balances. ZIPSS is managed and operated by Bank of Zambia.
Lazrous Kamanga, acting director of banking, currency and payment systems at Bank of Zambia, said, “Interbank payment and settlement volumes have recorded a sharp increase with volumes reaching more than US$115.5mn last year, owing to the implementation of the second generation real-time gross settlement systems (RTGS), a specialist transfer of money or securities from one bank to another in real-time.
“In terms of transactions originating from customers of commercial banks, volumes have been going up since 2006. In 2006, we were just trading above US$19.2mn, but we are now talking of more than US$115.5mn being processed on this system.”
In 2014, Bank of Zambia implemented the second generation RTGS and the implementation included integration of the RTGS and central securities depository (CDS) system to ease delivery and payment of government securities among market players.
“With the implementation of the new RTGS, some measures have been taken to improve stability, reliability and efficiency of ZIPSS and payment in general,” added Kamanga.
The system has been integrated with the government‘s Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) to enable ministries to generate transactions for settlement to various beneficiaries.
By Nawa Mutumweno
