diff --git a/modules/sysconfig/src/main/java/org/jpos/ee/SysConfigManager.java b/modules/sysconfig/src/main/java/org/jpos/ee/SysConfigManager.java
index 57b05add29..cbad6ece06 100644
--- a/modules/sysconfig/src/main/java/org/jpos/ee/SysConfigManager.java
+++ b/modules/sysconfig/src/main/java/org/jpos/ee/SysConfigManager.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 package org.jpos.ee;
 
+import java.math.BigDecimal;
 import java.util.*;
 
 import org.hibernate.query.NativeQuery;
@@ -223,6 +224,14 @@ public boolean getBoolean (String name, boolean def) {
         return v.length() == 0 ? def :
             (v.equalsIgnoreCase("true") || v.equalsIgnoreCase("yes"));
     }
+
+    public BigDecimal getBigDecimal (String name, BigDecimal def) {
+        String v = get (name);
+        return v != null ? new BigDecimal(v.trim()) : def;
+    }
+    public BigDecimal getBigDecimal (String name) {
+        return getBigDecimal (name, BigDecimal.ZERO);
+    }
     public int getMaxIdLength() {
         String queryString = "select max(length(id)) as maxidlen from sysconfig";
         if (prefix != null)