ZimSwitch, Zimbabwe’s designated national switch and clearing house, has partnered with Visa to enhance remittance services.

In a statement ZimSwitch explained that through the partnership, clients will be able to make both domestic and international transactions with one co-branded card, which it says means not only increased convenience for clients but also decreased costs.

The cards will be EMV-enabled, ensuring all transactions are conducted securely and will function across payment methods such as e-commerce, mobile payments, QR Code transactions and tokenisation.

“ZimSwitch is delighted to partner with Visa at a time when the country is witnessing tremendous growth in electronic payments. We believe this partnership will inspire confidence and encourage further investment in our region,” said Cyril Nyatsanza, CEO, at ZimSwitch.

Maurice Newa, MD of Visa’s southern Africa cluster added: “Visa is committed to expanding the payments landscape across Africa, digitising Zimbabwe’s payments sector is a crucial element of the country’s digital transformation, which is why Visa is so excited about our partnership with ZimSwitch. We are excited to be working together to develop innovative payments solutions that continue to eliminate barriers to global commerce for merchants and consumers in the region.”

In December 2020 Zimbabwe mobile money platform, EcoCash approached the country’s Central Bank with a request to be exempted from having to integrate with the national payment system.

The platform argued that there is no need for it to be integrated considering its capacity to operate on its own, its national footprint and the ability to transact over 450 transactions per second.