Harare – ZB Financial Limited says processes towards the readmission to the VISA platform are at an advanced stage and substantial work has been completed in satisfying the Plastic Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCIDSS), a pre-requisite for VISA accreditation.
Economic sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by the West affected the Visa payment platforms in the country.
Economic ties between the Southern African country and the West took a nosedive after Zimbabwe embarked on the land reform programme to address the imbalances brought about by the former colonisers.
In an interview with Equity Axis, ZB Bank CEO Ron Mutandagayi said together with the bank’s staff they are working tirelessly towards readmission into Visa.
“We are still working towards readmission into Visa. There is a standard which is called Plastic Card Industry Data Security Standards, which is a security standard we are required to comply with. That involves setting up your system and processes in a manner that is complaint with security of data.
“We have had a report done by a quality security inspector. We are working through the shortfalls that we need to remediate. We are excited that we made a lot of progress in that area. We are also in touch with Visa to try to make sure we expedite our readmission.”
He said based on time estimates he anticipates the Bank will be admitted by the first quarter of 2019.
“So we will give you updates as time goes on as it is a project on our top agenda and all our staff members who are involved in it are working very hard to ensure that we meet Visa standards so that we can be readmitted in the Visa payment system.”
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is an information security standard for organizations that handle branded credit cards from the major card schemes.
The PCI Standard is mandated by the card brands and administered by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council.
The standard was created to increase controls around cardholder data to reduce credit card fraud. Validation of compliance is performed annually, either by an external Qualified Security Assessor (QSA) or by a firm specific Internal Security Assessor (ISA) that creates a Report on Compliance for organizations handling large volumes of transactions, or by Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) for companies handling smaller volumes.
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