Affiliation:
1. Research Professor and Professor of Securities and Financial markets Law, Faculty of Law, North-West University, South Africa
2. – Post-doctoral Research Fellow, North West University, South Africa
Abstract
The use of digital financial services such as mobile money has created new frontiers
for more people, especially the poor, to participate in the formal payment systems in
Zimbabwe and South Africa. Individuals who do not have bank accounts are now able to
access financial services and products using technological devices such as mobile phones.
In this regard, digital financial services have broadened financial inclusion allowing the
poor to participate in financial markets and other formal economic activities which they were
unable to access before. In addition, digital financial services represent a broad range of
emerging financial technology (fintech) products which could lead to the adoption of digital
currencies in many countries, including Zimbabwe and South Africa. These fintech products
have been useful channels for the poor to transact and receive money since the outbreak of
the coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic. However, the regulation of digital financial services
and their products remains problematic in South Africa and Zimbabwe owing, in part, to the
absence of statutes that expressly and robustly regulate these services. Furthermore, there is
no sufficient policy clarity on the adoption of central bank digital currencies in the aforesaid
countries. Accordingly, this article explores the adequacy of the regulatory frameworks and
robustness of the enforcement approaches adopted in Zimbabwe and South Africa. This is
also done in the context of the African Union (AU)’s Agenda 2063 goal of enabling trade
linkages amongst African countries.
Publisher
Bucharest University of Economic Studies
Subject
Law,Political Science and International Relations,Public Administration,Education