Regulatory Alerts2015-01-01
Zambia Financial Access (FINACCESS) Geospatial Mapping Exercise 2015
The Bank of Zambia has granted permission to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Financial Sector Deepening Zambia, through contractor Brandworx Limited, to conduct a nationwide geospatial mapping survey of financial service access points from September to November 2015. Researchers will physically geo-reference premises, capture photographs, and compile background data for commercial banks, non-bank financial institutions, and mobile money providers. The Bank requests full cooperation from all regulated entities to ensure the successful collection of this data, which will be made publicly available as updated maps to help stakeholders track portfolio growth and identify underserved markets.
[Stamp: 16 SEP 2015]
Bank of Zambia Office of Senior Director – Supervisory Policy
15th September 2015
CB Circular No: 14 /2015
To: All Heads of Commercial Banks All Heads of Non-Bank Financial Institutions and Mobile Money Service Providers
ZAMBIA FINANCIAL ACCESS (FINACCESS) GEO-SPATIAL MAPPING EXERCISE, 2015
The Bank of Zambia wishes to notify you of the intention by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Financial Sector Deepening Zambia (FSDZ) to conduct a survey of geospatial data collection with the objective to map all financial, health and agricultural services access touch points in Zambia during the period of September 2015 to November 2015. Upon completion of the mapping exercise, the access point data will be in the public domain and stakeholders could obtain the data set (as well as the actual maps generated using this data) from FSDZ. These maps will be available to your organization and will show your portfolio and that of other organizations across Zambia. It is envisaged that the data base will be updated regularly allowing you to see the growth of your portfolio and help you target underserved areas.
Through this circular, we wish to inform you that the Bank of Zambia has granted permission to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the FSDZ who have contracted Brandworx Limited, an international research company, to conduct the FinAccess Geospatial Mapping Survey of all financial services in Zambia. Brandworx Limited researchers and officials will physically geo-reference all financial service access points, take photos of the premises and collect background information including but not limited to commercial banks, non-bank financial institutions and mobile money service providers in Zambia.
The purpose of this letter is to introduce to you the project and see your full support to ensure the project succeeds. I take this opportunity to thank you in advance for your partnership and cooperation. In case of any queries, please contact Mr Musapenda J Phiri, Head- Financial Sector Development Unit, Bank of Zambia, on telephone numbers +260 211 228888/9 or email: fsdp@boz.zm.
[Signature] CHISHA MWANAKATWE SENIOR DIRECTOR – SUPERVISORY POLICY
c.c. Deputy Governor – Operations Executive Director – Financial Sector Deepening Zambia Head, Financial Sector Development Unit