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Livingstone Marufu Business Reporter—
The number of bank accounts in the country has increased five-fold to 1,3 million in March this year from 229 264 same period last year due to the increased use of plastic money and fiscalisation of the small to medium enterprises. The increase comes at a time when the Government is pursuing a financial inclusion policy. In his Mid-Term Monetary Policy Statement, RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya acknowledged the surge in the number of bank accounts.
“Banking institutions continue to record increases in the opening of low cost or ‘no frills’ accounts with minimum affordable requirements.
“As at March 31, 2017 a total of 1,3 million low cost accounts had been opened, up from 229 264 as of March 31, 2016.
“The bank is coordinating tracking of financial inclusion targets. The tracking system comprises monitoring of progress and evaluation of the various financial inclusion initiatives.
“Financial inclusion indicators as at March 31, 2017 reflect a general improvement in access to formal financial services by target groups such as women, SMEs and youth,” said Dr Mangudya.
SMEs with bank accounts have increased to 72 757 in March from 71 730 in December 2016 while women with bank accounts increased to 814 593 from 769 882.
Dr Mangudya said the opening of accounts is in line with Government’s policy to include everyone in the financial system of the country and promote plastic money usage.
“The bank remains committed and focused on achieving a cash-lite society through the promotion of e-payments – cards, mobile banking, internet banking and electronic transfers – and to deepening oversight, supervision and operational efficiencies of the national payment systems.
“Going digital is the best way of beating cash queues at banks, a development that is evidenced by the fact that electronic payment systems aggregate values and volumes rose exponentially by 23 percent and 131 percent, respectively, during first half of 2017, compared to the same period in 2016,” he said.
Financial market participants continued to increase access points for the convenience of the transacting public in the usage of non-cash methods and enabling access to financial products and services.
This has seen the mobile banking agents increasing to 42 102 in June from 40 540 in March 2017, while POS access points surged to 44 586 from 40 011 during the same periods.
Over 80 percent of the retailers around the country are now using plastic money, with most of the rural businesses now using mobile payment platforms.
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