The Payments Association of Namibia (PAN) has announced the establishment and implementation of NAMSWITCH, registered under Namclear Pty Ltd., which replaces SASWITCH in processing ATM cards. This is part of the National Payment System reform project, PAN said this week. Historically, switching of Namibian domestic ATM card transactions was performed by SASWITCH as an integral part of the South African clearing and settlement process.

One of the key objectives of the Namibia National Payment System reform project is to take the Namibian interbank domestic transactions (EFT, Cheque, and Card) out of the South African National Payment System so they are to be cleared locally and settled in Namibia Inter-bank Settlement System (NISS), it said.
In addition, Namibia, as an independent and sovereign state, is required to manage and control its own domestic exposure and risks independently from South Africa.
PAN said the Namibian banking industry will implement NAMSWITCH during the early morning hours on Sunday 20 April and all domestic ATM card transactions will be processed by NAMSWITCH thereafter.
It called on banking Namibians to expect disruptions of ATM services between 00h00 and 06h00 when the new system of being implemented. It is anticipated that all ATM systems will be fully operational again from 06h00 am onwards.