Regulatory Alerts2014-01-01
Mandatory RTGS User Acceptance Testing and Straight Through Process Implementation
The Bank of Zambia mandates all commercial banks to conduct User Acceptance Testing on the new Real Time Gross Settlement system by 11 July 2014. Institutions must deploy full-time personnel to complete these tests and implement a Straight Through Process linking their Core Banking Systems directly to the RTGS network. Bank officials will begin site inspections on 23 June 2014 to verify readiness, and any bank failing to establish this Straight Through Process will be barred from participating in the system's 21 July launch.
BANK Of ZAMBIA OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY GOVERNOR - ADMINISTRATION 16 June, 2014 CB Circular No: 18/2014 TO All Heads of Commercial Banks MANDATORY USER ACCEPTANCE TEST (UAT) OF THE MONTRAN REAL TIME GROSS SETTLEMENT (RTGS) SYSTEM BY ALL COMMERCIAL BANKS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STRAIGHT THROUGH PROCESS (STP) Reference is made to the above subject. The Bank of Zambia wishes to advise all the commercial banks that they are required to conduct User Acceptance Tests (UAT) on the new RTGS system that is scheduled to go live on 21st July 2014. All commercial banks were expected to start the UAT on Monday 9 th June 2014 to 11th July 2014 as per project plan. However, it has been observed that most of your members of staff have not been attending project update meetings at the Bank of Zambia. It is further not clear whether you have been receiving regular progress reports on the project. In this regard, you are directed to ensure that your commercial bank conducts thorough and complete UAT by the stipulated date. Furthermore, ensure that your institution makes available adequate human resources to undertake these tests on a full time basis. In addition, the Bank of Zambia officials will from 23rd June 2014 be conducting inspections of all commercial banks to ensure that all participants have their systems ready for going live on the new system with all the prerequisites that were agreed with your technical teams. These inspections are to ensure that all commercial banks have put in place Straight Through Process (STP) for payment transactions that will be processed through the RTGS. All commercial banks are required to implement the STP in line with one of the main requirements in the implementation of the new RTGS system. This requirement was made known to all commercial banks technical experts at the beginning of the project. Any participating commercial bank that fails to implement the STP between the RTGS and their Core Banking System (CBS) will not be allowed to participate in the new RTGS. Kindly ensure that your institution is ready for the implementation ofthe new RTGS with STP to the CBS. Dr~Ula DEPUTY GOVERNOR - ADMINISTRATION Cc Governor Bank Square, Cairo Road, P.O. Box 30080, Lusaka, Zambia. Tel: +260-211-229930 Fax: +260-211-222808 E-mail: tkmabula@boz.zm. Web: http://www.boz.zm
SCHEDULE FOR SITE VISIT FOR RTGS SYSTEM READINESS CHECK Monday 08:30 To 09:30 Zanaco Cairo Road 23rd June, 2014 09:45 To 10:45 Indo Zambia Cairo Road 11:00 To 12:00 First Alliance I Cairo Road
14:30 To 15:30 ABBank Cairo Road 09:45 To 10:45 Bank Of China Kabelenga Road I 11:00 To 12:00 First Capital Bank Church Road/Tito Road .._ ....---- ---.------ ... ..-.__....------._-- 14:30 To 15:30 BancABC Friday 08:30 To 09:30 Barclays Addis Ababa Roundabout 27th June, 2014 09:45 To 10:45 Citibank Addis Ababa Roundabout 11:00 To 12:00 Stanbic J Addis Ababa Bank Square, Cairo Road, P.O. Box 30080, Lusaka, Zambia. Tel: +260-211-229930 Fax: +260-211-222808 E-mail: tkmabula@boz.zm. Web: http://www.boz.zm