In the end, it’ll mean you may as well say goodbye to the open market on the internet – and hello to a lot more digital piracy. Ebenezer Asante, MTN Sales and Distribution Executive recently said in a statement that given the benefits a cashless society affords us, it is important that we continue to do all we can to encourage a cashless economy based on technology. However, there are challenges we must resolve in order to chart a clear path forward. In Ghana, some of the common cards we can identify are such as Sika Card by SSB, Visa Horizon by Standard Chartered Bank , deployment of Automated Teller Machines and ATM cards by banks eCard and among others. Advantages of using these platforms are that it reduces the cost of printing currency notes.
According to Gilfillan, foreign online shopping has been hurting South Africa, and it is not only about tax. The UK, Denmark, Ireland and Norway have all suspended some aid to Uganda following allegations that millions of dollars had been transferred from Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi’s office into private accounts. Ms Kiwanuka said the aim of the budget was to target those who avoid or do not pay taxes and set targets for the revenue authority to make sure taxes are actually collected.
It will make it easier to retrieve evidence of document submission or payment remittance. By the end of 2012, there were over 1 billion mobile banking users, conducting 47 billion transactions annually and generating over US$600 billion worth of financial transactions in the world, according to Ericsson survey. The use of this platform formalising informal transactions; transparency helps combat crime and corruption; record keeping reduces room for tax avoidance ; increased service options for consumers – accessibility 24/7. The net effect on business and economic growth through e-commerce, promote and enhanced productivity. “As such, the central bank will continue to deepen its role through increased monitoring and collaboration with various stakeholders in order to maintain safety, soundness and stability in of the payment systems,” the RBZ added.
“It’s very unfortunate that Ugandans are being squeezed both ways,” Simon Mpagi, a mobile phone money transfer agent, told the Reuters news agency from his retail shop in Kampala. That said, the change will not only be in the returns, but also in the mode of making tax payments. KRA is currently widening its reach by increasing the number of banks through which taxpayers can make payments. Currently, taxpayers have to wait for payment receipts for almost a month to ascertain that their payment was received by the KRA. ‘This tells us we must have a singular focus on educating people about the full benefits of a cashless economy.
Uganda is to impose a 10% tax on cash transfers by mobile phones and other money transfer operators. Finance Minister Maria Kiwanuka said she also planned to raise $16.5m (£10.6m) by imposing a levy on incoming international phone calls. Ms Kiwanuka had to come up with ways to plug a $214m hole in the annual budget after donors cut aid over accusations of corruption.
Katundu added Kenya was in need of relevant regulations and laws that will support the fight against cyber crime. He said technical measures should be taken by the government to help this cause and recommended establishment of a national computer incidence response team. Communications Commission of Kenya director general Francis Wangusi said Kenya has recently had a surge in cyber crimes such as website defacement, impersonation on social media, email account hacking, cyber bullying, copyright infringement and mobile money transfer fraud. Ethio telecom’s Corporate Communications director, Abdurahim Ahmed, declined to make any comment, but the service could become a reality in two weeks, according to Eyob Getahun, Public Relations head at Kifya. When launched, the electronic airtime distribution service will replace the common scratch cards. The very objective of the project is to cut down on the foreign currency spent on the purchase of the plastic mobile airtime cards.
Zimbabwe: Mobile, Internet Money Surpass Card Payments
We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. “With the exception of cheques, most payment streams registered increases during the month of May 2013, in both volume and value terms,” the Central Bank said. This resulted in an outcry by banks who had been earning most of their income from fees and commisions. “All the tax proposals that have been mentioned add up to about 3% of existing taxes and they’re still subject to parliamentary approval,” she told the BBC.
Category: Digital Payments
This slows down registrations, especially in the rural areas; and limit on transactions. Avatar Technologies Ltd is a specialized electronic fiscal solutions provider for governments and taxpayers. Our world-class technologies and solutions have been designed specifically to meet the needs and requirements of tax authorities in emerging and developing countries.
It also needs Central Bank and the Government support in promoting this on relevant platforms. As a country we need to expand our infrastructure and systems to the point where we are ready for a cashless economy, and electronic transactions are truly ubiquitous and sustainable. The initiators and handlers need to be ensure with adequate security to avoid pitfalls i.e. cyber fraud is critical. Cultural resistance and education endorsement from Central Bank and Government will be of help. According to him, this means that the technology coverage must be adequate, as well as other supporting structures such as energy availability for consistent connectivity and reduced downtime.
In Australian cash use still at 64% while in UK, cash use is projected to drop to 45% by 2018. According to Nigerian Central Bank Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, direct cost of cash management to the Nigerian banking industry is estimated to be N192 billion (approximately US$1.9 billion by end of 2012). The Central Bank of Nigeria introduced a new policy on cash-based transactions which stipulates a ‘cash handling charge’ on daily cash withdrawals or cash deposits that exceed N500,000 for Individuals and N3,000,000 for Corporate bodies.
Going forward, the RBZ said its goal is to ensure payment systems are available without interruption, meet all users’ needs, and operate at minimum risk and reasonable cost. The level of detail contained on the electronic returns is unnecessary and superfluous, and the shift assumes that taxpayers are technically equipped to navigate through the returns. But the most challenging bit is the amount of time firms will take to complete these returns due to the excessive information that the KRA is asking for. Notwithstanding the system’s imperfections, we should not throw the baby out with the bath water. Finally, he stated that Mobile Operators will facilitate each of these transactions directly or indirectly. Its lower costs make it profitable to serve poorer clients and no physical outlets make it possible to serve more remote clients.
Although the paper airtime recharging e-cards will also be imported, their cost will be significantly less, says Kifya. MarketsandMarkets also provides multi-client reports, company profiles, databases, and custom research services. “Mobile money has become part of people’s everyday lives because they don’t need to carry cash. Even those who were formally unbanked have mobile money accounts with a service provider of their choice because it’s cheap,” the Daily Monitor quoted him as saying. “In telecom we are trying to increase affordability and things like mobile money transfer revolutionised money transaction so when you increase tax, there is a contradiction,” she told Uganda’s state-owned New Vision newspaper.
Mobile Payments are defined as chain of payments that are initiated using mobile handsets and other devices, either to directly purchase or to authorize payment for goods and services. Mobile Payments has the potential to serve these unbanked and underserved segments of the society. It is an economy without cash, it uses digital money instead, and transactions are made easily. In some years back, cashless society based mainly on barter, gift economics and debt, and then evolved to the use of money. In some countries like United State of America , majority of the people use cards while little as 29% are still with cash.
While talking about its ecosystem, it constitutes of many industries such as mobile network operators, banks and financial institutions, payment processors, mobile money platform providers, handset manufacturers, etc. because of its fragmented nature of the market. With some of the platform you can send and receive money safely, pay your utility bills, TV subscription, buy airtime, pay for goods and services and buy a life insurance. The Mobile Money solution is based on Banking Industry security standards.
The regulations have been published by finance minister Pravin Gordhan for comment, and follow the proposals he made in his 2013 budget speech to impose VAT on foreign businesses who “sell e-books, music and other digital goods and services”. The only way to implement this realistically, is to have it done automatically by banks when you make purchases, or require that services such as Steam comply with Vat regulation, which means they’d need to be registered VAT vendors. Do you really think all of the international companies you buy from are going to register for that? Not a chance in hell; instead, I suspect it just means we’ll be geofenced off from everything.
Kifiya Financial Technology Plc is working with ethio-telecom to introduce an electronic airtime distribution service. This will be designed to be a cheaper replacement of the existing scratch cards used for prepaid mobile customers. Gilfillan said that the new digital tax will definitely have a “massive” positive effect on the local economy. He said that many people may be using Netflix or Hulu at the expense of local operations like DStv. The money flows out of the country without any benefits for local artists or content products, said Gilfillan, adding that no royalties are flowing back into the country. Legal expert Graham Gilfillan welcomed the South African government’s new electronic services regulations which will introduce 14% VAT on digital products and services from 1 April 2014.
Phiona Wall, communications manager at mobile phone company Airtel Uganda, said she felt there were contradictions in the budget. Korea’s PKI has underpinned the implementation of e-Government systems and services. These include citizen oriented services such as national ID system, taxation; Spatial services such as land information system, underground facility management , property registration and urban planning among others. MarketsandMarkets is a global market research and consulting company based in the U.S. We publish strategically analyzed market research reports and serve as a business intelligence partner to Fortune 500 companies across the world.
It is unfortunately true, and as of April 1, if government gets its way both physical and digital goods you buy online will be subject to the 14% VAT we already pay on everything. Unlike with the current scratch card, the pin number would be printed on paper from an e-card terminal. These would be designed to print the numbers from data stored on ethio-telecom’s server online, using a private network GSM .
He said a policy that prescribes a structured approach is a step in the right direction to a well thought-out, properly sequenced cashless economy implementation. Many banks moved towards internet and mobile banking after government said banks should, effective January this year, not levy fees on deposits of less than US$800 and give 4% interest on deposits of at least US$1 000 held over 30 days. With a clear policy in place, this initiative can be link to the rural banks in the country and it will become a nationwide project like M-PESA from Kenya. These platforms provide cash management solution which offers flexibility, total security and convenience of accessing your money on your mobile phone wherever you are. It offers a fledged bank account on your mobile phone which allows you to easily and safely manage your cash in real time. In Ghana instead of the central bank adopt a policy and allow the banks in the country to take the challenge in handle mobile money; the telecom operators rather are championing it.
One area which stakeholders in the financial sector and for that matter the central bank have not done well at all is the Mobile Money Payment platform. Kenya is perfect example where over 80% of the Kenyans use M-PESA mobile money transfer. Many of the Kenyans are transacting businesses through this platform rather than using physical cash.
