Editorial: Bank of Tanzania move on consumer protection laudable

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has done a commendable thing to come up with new rules to protect consumers from unfair banking services and misconduct of bank employees.

This is not just a timely intervention, but also a step in the right direction by the central bank.

Globally, financial consumer protection is an increasing priority for policymakers, as its own policy objective and as a contributing factor to the healthy development of the financial sector, financial inclusion, and broader economic growth.

The Financial Services Consumer Protection Regulation will ensure customers are well taken care of and remain safe in this era of technology where cyber crime has been rampant.

In Tanzania, as it is all over the world today, the widespread uptake of digital financial services has heightened risks for consumers and raised new policy concerns.

We also have many cases and serious concerns by consumers about some bank workers colluding with robbers to steal from customers who withdraw big sums of money.

And many banks have been shutting down leaving consumers wondering what will become of their savings.

However, this will be a thing of the past as these new rules will ensure all banks focus on customers and provide trustworthy services.

Many cases of fraudulent transactions involving prepaid instruments have been reported by many consumers across the world, so this move will limit consumer liabilities with respect to unauthorised electronic payments.

The new rules will also go a long way in protecting consumers and instilling trust in them. It will also empower consumers to embrace digitalisation thereby making their transactions easy to track.