RBZ dismisses reports of local US$ RTGS accounts

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has dismissed social media reports that banks are opening new accounts referred to as "local USD RTGS transactions", describing the reports as "false and misleading", basically because there were already systems in place for both local and foreign payments in US dollars.

The bank noted that when the multicurrency system was put in place in 2009, there were problems of settling US dollar transactions within the local market until the RBZ put in place a system to settle such payments.

The system allows the movement of US dollars across banks for local transactions. But payments outside Zimbabwe are done through banks, the authorised dealers, and these banks have to follow the requirements of knowing their customer, do customer due diligence and comply with other procedures and processes.