CBZ rules the roost

as the most preferred commercial bank, an independent survey has shown.

In its third quarter report, the Zimbabwe All Media and Product Survey shows that commercial bank use by adult urbanites expanded 3 percent to 30 percent during the period under review.
CBZ regained the first mentioned primary bank status with 20 percent claiming to use bank accounts. In second place was Kingdom Bank with 18 percent and Barclays Bank third. Building society use remained at 6 percent.

CABS is the leading primary building society and gained from 67 percent to 68 percent.
The major product being used in this quarter was savings accounts. Overall, the urban population with bank accounts stands at 34 percent.
Zamps estimates are a clear indication that most of the urban population still lacks confidence in the local banking sector.

In the last 35 months to September this year, the development in the financial sector has been progressively upwards with the deposit base now estimated at US$3,3 billion, according to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

Despite the improvement, the Finance Ministry estimates that more than US$2 billion remains out of the banking system. It said part of the liquidity challenges the country’s financial system is experiencing was due to potential deposits allowed to remain with the public.
“It is estimated that over US$2 billion remains outside the formal banking system, on account of absence of incentives and historical confidence concerns, among others,” said the Finance Ministry.

The same report also noted that insurance usage among urban adults increased by 8 percent to 28 percent in the quarter under review. Medical aid coverage increased from 6 percent to 11 percent.
“The first mentioned service provider was PSMAS (Premier Service Medical Aid Society) with 46 percent followed by Cimas with 38 percent usage claim,” said Zamps in a summary of the survey.
“Funeral cover increased from 8 percent to 11 percent. Nyaradzo at 37 percent is the top service provider, followed by Moonlight at 18 percent and Doves at 15 percent,” it added.

The survey also shows that OK supermarkets is the most preferred grocery retail as 67 percent of urbanites buy from the supermarket chain.
TM Supermarkets came in second, after gaining the urban market to 57 percent from 51 percent. In third place is Spar with 36 percent. Of the supermarkets surveyed, OK and TM registered growth while Spar declined.

Internet usage continues to grow. Usage penetration by urban adults in this quarter grew from 26 percent to 31 percent. This quarter, access to Internet through homes increased to 15 percent.
The access through Internet cafes is 4 percent, a decrease from 7 percent and at work is 6 percent. Cellphone browsing increased from 4 percent to 13 percent.

The top four websites frequently visited were Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Gmail.