Central bank provides relief for cross-border transactions

The Bank of Namibia has given relief to banking institutions regarding regulatory reporting on cross-border Common Monetary Area (CMA) low-value transactions.

According to the Exchange Control Circular No.2024/01, banking institutions are exempt from regulatory reporting requirements for cross-border CMA low-value transactions below N$1 million for individual clients and N$5 million for corporate clients.

“The Bank of Namibia has issued the directive to regulate user fees, transaction speed, and regulatory reporting for cross-border CMA Public low-value transactions,” said Sandra Garises the principal communications team leader at the central bank.

With the new regulation, all transactions between Namibia and countries in the Common Monetary Area will be treated as international transactions from 15 April.

In the past, these transactions were treated as domestic business.

The CMA consists of Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho and Eswatini.

Previously, payments between banks in Namibia and nearby countries were treated as if conducted within South Africa.