BANK of Tanzania (BoT) has started the process to formalize all money transaction in the country, purposely to closely monitor the sector.
The central bank want to put on its data base all money transaction activities from mobile phone money agents, insurance brokers, banking agents to bank and insurers.
Also, after registration BoT will produce QR codes and ISSD numbers to enable customers to authenticate service provided even if operates under a mango tree.
BoT Director of National Payment System, Bernard Dadi said the exercise, Financial Sector Register (FSR), began this month and will be concluded in July after that no service provider will be allowed operating without being registered.
“The essence of the exercise is not only to identify the service providers but also to safeguard the market from uncouth vendors,” Mr Dadi said recently in Arusha.
The director said recently people have been swindled substantial amount of money by mobile phone money vendors and failed to track them.
“Some swindlers were long deregistered by MNOs [Mobile Network Operators], but somehow managed to continue to operate,” Mr Dadi said.
Once registered, the money transaction service operators will have to stick to their operation base despite being under a shade of tree.
“Heavy fines will be imposed for a registered point that relocates without informing the authority,” the Director of National Payment System said.
The exercise began early this month and it will be held in two phases—March- April for northern regions and May-June for southern ones.
The aim of FSR is to connect and put the entire financial sector under one data base that will enable planners to access accurate information timely.
Other benefits are to facilitate commercial decisions and strategic planning and easier identification of areas with poor service.
The key stakeholders are BoT, Capital Markets and Securities Authority, Tanzania Insurance Regulatory Authority (TIRA) and Tanzania Cooperative Development Commission (TCDC).
The aim is to connect the country financial sector from insurance to Saccos to ATMs to point of Sales to microfinance institutions (MFIs).
The service providers are divided into four groups namely category A—Super Agents and Bank branches, B those with permanent officers registered with BRELA, C those operates at Kiosks levels and D under umbrella or mango three agents.
