adminECONET Wirelesses’ Steward Bank will soon launch the agent banking facility to convenience banking for its clients countrywide, the divisional head of banking services, Mr Ben Muchina, has revealed. Mr Muchina revealed this on the sidelines of a Steward Bank Business Banking workshop for SMEs held in Mutare on Tuesday.
The bank, formerly known as TN Bank, was fully acquired by Zimbabwe’s largest telecoms firm, Econet Wireless, in January 2013 and has been undergoing transformation.
Mr Muchina said losses recorded in the past years were attributed to lack of capacity to generate sufficient revenues, as well as high funding costs and operational expenses.
He said the agent banking facility expected to be launched in the next two months would cut operational costs and also create employment countrywide in the various agents that would be selected.
This development also comes after last year’s reports that the bank reportedly laid off about 40 percent of its workforce to cut operational costs.
“As Steward Bank our thrust is electronic banking which is the future really. Agent banking just like Ecocash is convenient to the client and itcuts operational costs for the bank.
Agents will be situated in cities, high density suburbs, towns and growth points and offer much valued financial and payment services to their communities,” said Mr Muchina.
Steward Bank which is well capitalised to the tune of $75,1 million as at February 2013 is ranked among the country’s top five banks in terms of capitalisation.
In January, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe extended the minimum capitalisation targets of $50 million for commercial banks to end of 2020, of which Steward Bank is one of the few local commercial banks that had already achieved the capitalisation threshold last year.
Econet acquired the bank after buying out its founder, Mr Tawanda Nyambirai with intentions to use the unit to drive the company’s fast-growing Ecocash service.
Steward provides the backbone to Econet’s mobile money service, Ecocash and its various products such as EcocashSave and EcocashLoans. On the other hand information compiled by monetary authorities in the first quarter of the year revealed there is renewed confidence within the country’s financial sector.
There was a significant rise in deposits to $4,8 billion in the first quarter from $4,4 billion over the same period last year, while 80 percent of the banks recorded profits.
Online Reporter