Common Monetary Area

Martin Endjala Namibian commercial banks have issued various deadline notices as changes to cross-border payments within the Common Monetary Area (CMA) are set to take effect on 30 September. These changes will impact low-value electronic funds transfers (EFTs), debit orders, and credit payments between the CMA countries, namely Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and South Africa. Previously, these transactions were treated as domestic payments, allowing the participating banks in the four CMA countries to process them via South Africa's domestic retail payment system. This system provided a low-cost, efficient, and effective service to clients. However, under the new regulations, these transactions will…