Page 53 - 40th Summit Brochure 2020

tion standards. It presupposes that a actions and brings about ef ciency in na-
guarantee issued in one country should tional payments.
be recognised across the region and se- At regional level, the harmonization of
cures the duties when the goods are in payments and clearing systems through the
transit. T e implementation of the SADC-RTGS is ongoing. T e SADC-RTGS
SADC RCTG will benef t the region in supports the modernisation and harmoni-
the following ways: sation of payments and clearing systems
• Facilitating the movement of both domestically and regionally with the
goods; objective of improving the safety of pay-
• Reducing transaction costs; ments and the ef ciency of settlements in
• Increasing the competitiveness of the region. It has the impact of lowering
regional producers; cross-border transaction costs as it removes
• Fulf lling commitments under trade the need for correspondent banking re-
agreements such as the Economic quirements. Previously, intra-regional f -
Partnership Agreement (EPA), the nancial transactions would take two to three
Africa Continental Free Trade Area days to clear. However, with the advent of
(AfCFTA) and the Tripartite Free the SADC-RTGS transactions can be settled
Trade Area (TFTA); in real time.
All SADC Member States are participat-
• Meeting WTO trade facilitation ex- ing in the SADC-RTGS, with the exception
pectations; of the Union of Comoros, and 85 f nancial
• Simplifying and harmonising doc- institutions comprising central banks and
umentation and procedures to en- commercial banks are participating on the
sure predictable control procedures payment platform. T e SADC-RTGS has
based on risk management; performed above expectations since July
• Ensuring security and management 2013 when it went live. As of the end of
of the transportation procedures; March 2020, the system had processed over
50 • Removal of Non-Tarif Barriers; 1.7 million transactions valued at R6.87 tril-
• Enhancing cooperation and coordi-
lion. T e Committee of Central Bank Gov-
nation among transit corridors cus- ernors is currently engaging the SADC
toms administrations; Bankers Association to ensure that savings
• Improving record management thus arising from the removal of correspondent
enhancing ef ciencies in declara- banks are passed on to consumers. A key
tion processing; and milestone was the addition of the multi-cur-
• Improving available accurate statis- rency component to the SADC RTGS plat-
tical data that can be used by the form, which went live in October 2018. T e
customs to improve intra-region process of adding other regional currencies
trade; and, to the platform is ongoing.
• Reducing cross-border guarantee
verif cation time.

Payment Systems
T e SADC region has reported notable
progress in the development and strength-
ening of payment systems. At the national
level all Member States are implementing
the Real Time Gross Settlement System
(RTGS). T e RTGS facilitates quicker trans-