Getbucks extends to new frontiers

Business Reporter—

BANKING and financial services group GetBucks Financial Services Limited, will introduce a new savings account for the small to medium enterprises sector as it expands into the unbanked and encourage a culture of savings.Managing director Mercy Murevesi told The Herald Business that this was in line with financial services’ thrust to tap into the growing SME sector and drive its financial inclusion strategy.

“We will be introducing a new savings account for the unbanked, we will be calling it the ‘Maround’,” she said in an interview on the sidelines of the group’s annual general meeting in Harare yesterday.

“People will deposit money every month, it is a special product for the informal sector, we are introducing this at the end of this year,” she said.

She added the group was introducing more products in the coming year to bring convenience to the market.

In line with its thrust to tap into the SME sector, Getbucks has already diversified its loans to incorporate the informal sector.

“We have also managed to successfully diversify our loan portfolio, which was predominantly public service into 30 percent SMEs and 70 percent public service,” said Murevesi.

The company is also pursuing the change of name to Getbucks Microfinance Bank early next year.

“We will be pursuing a change of name in order to reflect the change in the focus,” she said.

Getbucks was granted a Deposit Taking Microfinance Licence by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in January this year before listing on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.

Murevesi said the financial services group has grown to offer savings and transactional accounts as well as a full participant on the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) platform.

But, like any deposit taking banking group, GetBucks has seen thin deposit volumes due to the cash shortages that hit the sector this year.

Resultantly, 95 percent of its total deposits were electronic while the remaining 5 percent made was made up cash deposits.

Management is however, upbeat about 2017 with plans underway to expand market share through use of ICT to attract the market.