Digital finance here to stay, but…

March 15 is World Consumer Rights Day and Malawi joined the international community in commemorating the day under the theme ‘Fair Digital Finance’.

There could have been no better theme than one focusing on digital finance, which has become the in-thing.

Gone are the days when one needed to physically carry wads of banknotes to make payments or indeed send someone to deliver hard cash to a beneficiary. Today, digital payment platforms abound and continue to improve customer experience.

From any corner of the world and at any time, one can make payments using their mobile phone handsets or computers to pay bills, school fees and others.

Information and communication technology (ICT) advances have greatly transformed the financial landscape. Banks are now competing on innovations to make their digital platforms more convenient, including making it possible for one to receive money through wallets without holding a bank account.

Mobile money platforms are yet another fast-growing area. In its second-quarter report for 2021, the National Payments System under the Reserve Bank of Malawi reported that Malawi had 9.3 million non-bank mobile money subscribers with 115 435 mobile money agents. This gives the picture of the impact digital finance has.

Globally, Consumer International estimates that by 2024, digital consumers will hit the 3.6 billion mark.

Closer home, at the centre of the local commemoration for the day was the Competition and Fair Trading Commission (CFTC) which has since lined up awareness activities during the week. Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (Macra) also played a part by sensitising consumers on their rights to avoid falling victim to digital finance fraud schemes.

Indeed for all its convenience, digital finance is not immune to fraud and cases abound of people duped through various platforms, including those offered by commercial banks. Last year, CFTC fined several commercial banks for unfair practices that gave customers raw deals.

I commend consumers who gather the courage to report cases of raw deals to CFTC, Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) and other authorities. That is the spirit championed by former United States of America President John F. Kennedy  (JFK ) in 1962 when he addressed the US Congress and formally raised the issue of consumer rights.

Records show that JFK became the first world leader to raise issues of consumerism; hence, the consumer rights movement worldwide commemorates the day annually as a special platform to raise awareness for consumer rights, including demanding the protection and respect for the said rights.

Digital finance in Malawi faces several challenges, including delayed processing of interbank cash transfers by individuals and corporate alike, delayed processing of reversals of transactions where they have not gone through. I recall a couple of years ago when I had to wait for over a month to get a refund of the cash debited against my bank account from a third-party bank automated teller machine. Banks can surely do better.

In Malawi, most consumers suffer in silence, especially when cases involve big corporations which tend to ‘bully’ them and eventually frustrate them from further pursuing their cases. My appeal to consumers is not to be intimidated.

They deserve protection from unscrupulous entrepreneurs and unfair trading practices.

Time has come for authorities to decisively move to fight online fraud which digital finance continues to expose unsuspecting consumers. Being decisive means investing in infrastructure that will easily trace the perpetrators of the vices. The current approach does not inspire confidence.

I mean, it doesn’t help victims at all for the police to be demanding airtime from them to undertake a search or indeed the mobile network operators let alone their regulator seemingly acting helpless.

Beyond the World Consumer Rights Day commemoration, every consumer should make it a point of reflection and resolve to never suffer in silence. Whenever you feel your rights are, as a consumer, being infringed by the ‘big foot’ of the corporate giants.

Stand up and fight for your rights!