As the public is now well aware, on 17 March 2020, Government declared the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic a national disaster. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to advance across the world, disrupting traditional provision of financial services.

Although the country has not yet recorded any confirmed cases of COVID-19, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (the Bank) is working closely with financial service providers under its purview and other stakeholders to monitor and take appropriate precautionary measures to support the economy and minimise the adverse impact of the pandemic on the banking and transacting public, banks’ staff and overall stability of the financial sector.

In order to ensure that banking and payment services continue to be available at all times, while promoting crowd containment and social distancing, financial service providers should ensure uninterrupted access to online banking and payment services including point of sale, international payments, real time gross settlement, mobile banking, mobile money payments and remittance services. The banking and transacting public is encouraged to optimise use of available electronic and online banking services which remain the safest and most secure forms of transacting.

All financial services providers should promote high standards of hygiene to mitigate or minimise any possible transmission and to safeguard the health of the banking and transacting public as well as banks’ staff. In this regard, financial service providers must stand ready to activate their business continuity and contingency plans, where necessary, to deal with any adverse operational events as they may occur.
The Bank will continue to monitor the developments in the financial services sector to ensure that the sector remains stable. – RBZ