All organizations that process card payments are required to be certified by Payment Card Industry (PCI) a SIMTEL top official has said. Sigrid Bruch the Executive Officer of SIMTEL said on Thursday that by the end of this year Rwanda would have qualified for PCI certification.

PCI is a scheme involving leading card schemes and the move aims at security assurance of money being processed. The leading card schemes involved include MasterCard, Visa, Amex, Diners and JCB.

This was mentioned by during the Monetary Policy Review at Serena Hotel on 30th July 2009.

"We need to be certified, otherwise they blacklist your organization and you will not be able to operate with them,” she said.

Bruch said that 95 percent of the technical audit is completed and she is optimistic that before this year ends Rwanda will qualify for PCI.

After the certification, Rwanda will be the third African country after Egypt and South Africa to qualify for PCI.

"Electronic payment has a serious job with big responsibility because dealing with someone’s money is risky and thus the network has to be secure,” she added.

Among the benefits highlighted by Bruch includes security of the money transactions and the methods will be at the same international standards regardless of the location. It will also make it easier for Rwanda to introduce other card schemes in the country.

She said that it will also be a prerequisite for SIMTEL to stay competitive in the business.

SIMTEL CEO is optimistic that once the country adopts electronic payments fully, it will cut costs of printing banknotes and reduce on money fraud.

SIMTEL is in charge of the national electronic payment transactions, and operates Automatic Teller Machines in the country.

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