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Africa's small banks beef up security, flight fraud, with SWIFT rollout

Africa's small banks and financial institutions are increasingly looking to join high-security communications networks to accelerate interbank financial transactions, and to help combat fraud and money laundering.

Mauritius-based ACE (African Commerce Exchange), part of JSE-Security Exchange Global Technology, operates the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) Africa Bureau, which strives to provide secure financial telecommunications to smaller banks in Africa at reduced rates. SWIFT provides encrypted financial messaging facilities to over 7000 institutions in 192 countries.

Barry Botes, MD at Fin-X, a division of Global Technology, says until recently many smaller banks in Africa could not justify the cost of SWIFT. The initiative by COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern African States) and ACE has changed this situation. Participating banks in Africa receive the full SWIFT service, at reduced set-up costs, because of the shared-cost model available to SWIFT Africa Bureau customers.

Botes continues: "SWIFT replaces many of the paper-based transactions in banks, increasing efficiency and reducing the opportunities to commit fraud. With paper processing, it is easy for a fraudster to disguise a transaction in some form. However, automation reduces the opportunities for 're-input' of data - it can be input once only."

For more details contact Barry Botes, Fin-X, on tel: (011) 886 5130, e-mail: bbotes@glotec.co.za

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