TINASHE MAKICHI
Ecobank Zimbabwe Limited issued letters of credit of over US$80m for cooking oil and fuel importation last year as the bank moves in to ease the forex shortages.
The economy is grappling a forex crisis which has seen rates on the parallel market accelerating on the back of increased demand since the reintroduction of the Zimbabwe dollar in June last year.
The bank, a unit of pan-African banking group Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, advanced in excess of US$80m, according to CEO Moses Kurenjekwa.
Ecobank Zimbabwe marketing manager Tich Gandanhamo said the LCs supported significantly the area of fuel and commodities.
“We continue to get support from our 33 affiliate networks in supporting trade transactions,” Gandanhamo said.
As part of the expansion, the financial institution has embarked on an aggressive refurbishment exercise on its branch network to meet customer demands and modern trends as it seeks to grow its market share.
Ecobank Zimbabwe has 12 branches across Zimbabwe and is still looking at opportunities to expand while following its value chain strategy on expansion.
Gandanhamo said the bank, as part of advancing its digitisation strategy, has introduced a mobile phone application called QR which is set to make transacting more convenient.
“We are the pioneers of this product in the local financial sector, so I am not sure if there is any one of our competitors with that product,” Gandanhamo said.
Ecobank segments its businesses in Africa into four geographical regions. These reportable operating segments are Francophone West Africa (UEMOA), Nigeria, Anglophone West Africa (AWA), Central, Eastern and Southern Africa (CESA).
In the first quarter of 2019, the group made changes to its regional r e p o r t a b l e o p e r a t i n g segments to bring simplicity and better alignment to the way management views the operations.
The financial results of the constituent affiliates of Ecobank Development Corporation (EDC), the group’s Investment Banking (IB) and Securities, Wealth, and Asset Management (SWAM) businesses across its geographic footprint were segmented by their country of domicile and included accordingly into applicable regional segments–UEMOA, Nigeria, AWA, or CESA.
As at June 30, 2019, the bank’s market share of deposits increased to 12% from 8.3% as at December 31, 2018. Continuous decline on cost of funds reflected increasing franchise strength benefitting from its position within the wider group. During the period under review, cost of funds was 0.13% from 0.33% of December 31, 2018.
While retail product diversification is not great, the bank has dominance perhaps a defendable position in its niche in trading finance/ structured finance which is considered an added advantage over peers.
