RBM, BPC Group sign contract
The Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) and BPC Group on Tuesday signed a contract to start the implementation of the National Switch—a shared switch facility to connect all the country’s 11 banks and other financial institutions.
BPC Group, a banking technologies company, will work in collaboration with Blantyre-based Business Computer Services and Hewlett Packard (HP), an America multinational information technology corporation, to ensure the switch is operational by end March 2014.
RBM Governor Charles Chuka hailed BPC Group for winning the contract, saying Malawians expect the company to live up to their reputation for them to begin to benefit from an efficient payments system.
“Upon completion, the National Switch project will mark a major achievement in government’s efforts aimed at enhancing the banking system’s contribution to the country’s economic growth through efficient delivery of and in access to banking services, especially by the bankable unbanked part of our population,” he said, at a ceremony attended by Bankers Association of Malawi (BAM) officials and representatives of some of the country’s banks.
The project is being financed by the Malawi Government through the RBM under the World Bank-supported $28.2 million (K9.8 billion) five-year Financial Sector Technical Assistant Project (Fstap).
Chuka said the National Switch project was designed to achieve two major outcomes of establishing a switch with all the banks and other players connected to it to ensure interoperability and formation and an entity called National Switch (Nat Switch) Limited that will manage and run the switch.
BPC Group managing director for Africa Daryl Berg said the National Switch will boost retail sector and have positive benefits on the tourism sector because it will enable interoperability of banks.
