A Malawian led Company Malcom after getting approval from the Reserve Bank of Malawi is ready to launch a cashless payment system which the Company is releasing as MobiMax charge card service.
According to CEO Christopher Kanyuka who spoke with The Maravi Post via Skype, they received a letter of approval from RBM deputy governor (economics) Naomi Ngwira dated February 12 2015 approving the firm application to roll out the MobiMax card service, The Reserve Bank indicated that the card Malcom is offering cannot be classified as either a debit or credit card.
“After a thorough assessment of your application, we note that the proposed charge card cannot be classified as a debit or credit card since there is no interface with cardholder’s bank accounts or employers’ or retailers’ bank accounts.
“The transaction flow will, therefore, have no direct effect on bank accounts of all the parties involved. Hence, the proposed charge card does not fall under the scope of prudential regulation by RBM,” she Naomi Ngwira in her approval letter to Malcom.
“RBM has no objection to the introduction of the charge card by Malcom.”
The Reserve Bank in its approval letter, demanded Malcom Limited to take into consideration some consumer protection issues such as adequate disclosure of price structure for the proposed charge card to allow consumers to make an informed decision before signing up.
CEO Christopher Kanyuka was confident in talking to The Maravi Post that pretty soon the charge card services will made available to Malawi consumers. He jokily suggested that The Maravi Post and its employees will soon be using the Card at the Mount Soche sports bar where some of our famous reporters are known to frequent.
Kanyuka was very happy making the announcement, recalling how much work was involved to get to this point. He also wanted the consumers to know that they have invested in crowd hosting with a company of international reputation to make sure consumer personal data is protected and also to guarantee reliability of the service.
The system according to Mr. Kanyuka will work with employers signing on with Malcom and then giving the charge card to their employees who will be allowed to use credit of up to 30 percent of their salary and shall repay their liabilities through payroll deductions every month that they use the service.
“The MobiMax charge card will not attract any interest save for the card swipe fee and transaction fee and shall provide security, dignity and class to cardholders,” said Kanyuka.
The MobiMax charge card shall introduce a new platform for cashless transactions in Malawi and enable cardholders to transact business without need for having cash in their pocket or bank account and shall not be restricted to any service as long as the retailer or service provider has a MobiMax PoS device installed.
Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) has commended Malcom for its innovation, saying it will help consumers and improve the economy.
“The Consumers Association of Malawi is in support of the concept and we welcome the development in Malawi as we see immense benefit for our members and the economy,” said Cama executive director John Kapito.
