National Bank o f Rwanda (BNR) says payment systems in commercial banks will be modernised. This effective and secure payment system is hoped, will reduce transaction costs. An Automated Clearing House is also planned. The clearing house is envisaged will promote the use of bank cards on a large scale, for both nationals and visitors through Simtel company net work. “There are also intentions of putting in place a payment council whose role is to implement the national payment system strategy,” Francois Kanimba, the governor BNR said. The national electronic card payments system was launched in 2005 and run by Simtel, an organisation created to modernise the country’s national payments network. Whereas it was considered as great achievement, users of Automated Teller Machines (ATM) cards and commercial banks today say that it takes long to obtain these cards.The governor how ever said, that in three months time, ATM cards will be provided. Simtel will have to stock the cards from South Africa and then finalise some processes from here depending on the customer demands. Recently Simtel entered into a venture partnership agreement worth $3.5m with the African Development Corporation (ADC) consortium, led by Xcom, an IT firm from Germany specialised in electronic banking solutions. The deal gave the group majority stake in Simtel and control of the company.Francois Kanimba who is also the chairman of Simtel said that their intention was to select a strategic partner for the management of Simtel because commercial banks were not satisfied with the way Simtel was performing.Ends
