7 June 2011
Maputo — Commercial banks in Mozambique on Monday created the Sociedade Interbancaria de Mocambique (SIMO) which will facilitate the operation of joint services such as ATMs (Automatic Teller Machines). This is intended to end the practice of customers being charged if they withdraw cash from an ATM of a bank other than the one where their account is held.
The mechanism is intended to contribute to the better geographical distribution of banking services.
SIMO is 51 per cent owned by the Bank of Mozambique, with the remaining owned by private banks including Barclays, African Bank Corporation, BCI, Millennium BIM, Standard Bank, Mauritius Commercial Bank, FNB, Banco Mercantil e de Investimentos, Banco Oportunidade, Banco Terra and the Cooperativa de Poupanca e Credito.
The shareholder structure also includes the International Commercial Bank, Moza Banco, Socremo, Tchuma, Banco Unico and Banco Procredit.
A major technological challenge for SIMO will be to integrate all banks through a single network.
Speaking at the signing of the memorandum setting up SIMO, the Governor of the Central Bank, Ernesto Gove, noted that the population’s access to financial services and products is improving, although a large proportion of Mozambicans remain excluded.
In 2009 only 22.2 per cent of the adult population had access to financial services, compared with 46 per cent in Tanzania and 45 per cent in Malawi.
Today, the country has 16 banks and 417 branches distributed across 58 of the country’s 128 districts. Four years ago banks were only present in 28 district headquarters.
AllAfrica – All the Time
Continued here:
Banks Create Mechanism for Sharing Services