The Central Bank has issued new guidelines and regulations to banks operating in Rwanda governing the reversal of funds after failed ATM transactions. The development was announced by Peace Uwase, the Director for Financial Stability at the Central Bank who said that the intervention comes on the realization of unfairness that a section of bank’s clients has been subjected to. She said that on failed ATM transactions, banks are expected to reverse funds immediately if a client used an ATM of their (clients’) and not more than 5 days if the client used an ATM of another bank. A failed ATM transaction is whereby money is deducted from a client’s account but they do not receive it from the machine. Business Times verified multiple claims by a section of bank clients who said they had to wait up to 45 days for the reversal of funds especially during transactions in other bank’s ATMs. Some said they had to borrow funds from alternative sources during the lengthy wait processes. In the event of a failed transaction, a client makes a claim at the nearest bank branch for follow up. The Central Bank recently launched a consumer protection department where clients can lodge complaints if and when aggrieved by service providers. There are currently 390 ATMs across the country as of June 2019. However, in a number of banks, the machines are quite old affecting their ability to disperse cash over large durations. It’s common to find machines out of service especially days around ‘payday’ which leads clients to use ATMs of other banks. Dependence on ATMs also points to the need to drive cashless payments, especially among small and medium retail outlets which are yet to embrace cashless options such as mobile payments or points of sale machines. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
