Zimbabwean banks reported widespread disruption to a widely-used payment channel, after the central bank experienced a network problem that it is trying to fix.
Lender’s including the Central African Building Society Ltd., the nation’s largest mortgage lender and a unit of South African insurer Old Mutual Ltd., advised clients Tuesday that the real-time gross settlement platform was down.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, which said on Monday it was experiencing a ” technical challenge” that could delay some banking services, is working to resolve the issue. Its website was offline all Tuesday, with the official dollar exchange-rate for the local currency, the gold-backed ZiG, unavailable.
Large retailers and local councils are among those which often rely on the central bank’s website for a guide on official exchange rates to price their goods and services. The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange is also affected as its unable to settle payments.
Lawrence Nyazema, president of the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe, said the main system was down which in turn affected payments across the market, while noting the RBZ had been able to restore some services. -Bloomberg
