As a bid to promote cashless payments,leading local debit card scheme, SmartCash has embarked on a drive to push for more payments on Point of Sale (POS) terminals across the country.
The development comes as a move to boost Rwanda’s economic and financial ecosystem strategy of growing e-payments and paving the road for a cashless economy.
During the drive, SmartCash will carry out extensive communication on card payments, its benefits to users and the economy in general.
Speaking about the campaign, Mr. Jean Claude Gaga, Ag. Chief Executive Officer of RSwitch, said, “Beyond boosting e-payments, the goal of this is to meet the needs of our partner bank customers who will benefit relevant accessible services through the use of their SmartCash card to pay for their goods and services on any Point of Sale terminal in the country. It is the ease and convenience of a cashless life.”
“The growth of cashless payments has been pinned on developing countries and as an electronic payments enabler, we are happy to support the country’s agenda towards a cashless Rwanda,” Gaga added.
SmartCash cards payments on POS are free of charge and merchants canbe found at supermarkets, fuel stations, restaurants, pharmacies among others.
How do Point of Sale (POS) payments work?
In a three step process, SmartCashcustomers can make payments through:
Step 1: Hand card to merchant to enter bill, Step 2: Customer enters PIN and presses button ‘OK’ Step 3: Return the POS to the merchant to finalize the process. Once the payment is finalized, the customer will get a receipt from the merchant confirming payment.
According to the central bank, a lot of progress was achieved in card based payments which remain one of the major avenues for promoting a cashless economy.
Additionally, POS increased from 1009 in 2014 to more than 1700 in 2015 with 83% of these being in Kigali alone.The number of POS remains low but its usage grew to 124% between 2013/14 and 2014/5.
As a result of the central bank’s drive for interoperability, 97% of SmartCash cards transacted on all POS countrywide in 2015. The number of debit cards also increased by 23% from 532,000 in 2014 to 654,000 by June 2015.
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