NMBZ expands footprint in Africa

LIVINGSTONE MARUFU

NMBZ Holdings, a publicly traded provider of financial services , through its technology division XPlug Solutions Limited, is expanding its footprint  in Africa,Business Times can report.

NMBZ CEO Gerald Gore, who said XPlug was originally founded to provide technology solutions to NMB Bank, confirmed the development, saying the company is now providing those services to organizations in Zimbabwe that are not part of the group.

Gore also revealed that XPlug’s reach has since been extended to Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique.

Now, according to Gore, XPlug aims to cover the entire continent.

“The capacity within the group is immense and in line with the group expansion drive, we are now offering technology solutions to organisations outside the group, both in the financial and non-financial space.

“The subsidiary will also serve customers in the region and we have current engagements with financial institutions in Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique who have signed up for our digital transformation solutions. With the success registered to date, Xplug Solutions is targeting to provide technology solutions to all the 54 African countries and beyond, hence our mantra – “54 and more”,” Gore said.

According to Gore, the bank keeps bolstering its security measures to safeguard depositors’ funds.

Gore also said NMBZ’s  cyber security system competes with the best systems in the world.

He said NMBZ has contracted one of the top security system companies in the world in addition to its strong team.

Gore said NMBZ works with a company from India which  is contracted by some of the biggest banks in the world and the  company has 24 hour surveillance at its premises and has artificial intelligence tools that can detect potential threats from anywhere in the world.

The group has invested heavily in technology and has started selling the technology to a number of banks in the region  which want the top-of-the-range technology.

Gore said on the local front, NMBZ’s  broader digital banking strategy has been to maximise value creation from the digital channels.

“To further enhance the channel’s proposition, the bank is creating an ecosystem of value added services around the existing innovations. The first half of the year saw the launch of NMB Remit in May 2023, a local money transfer platform which is riding on our existing Connect digital platform. To bring convenience to our customers, we added more billers on our connect platforms from a number of sectors including insurance, telecommunication and e-commerce,” Gore said.

He said the  digital channels have exhibited resilience and remained profitable despite the challenging macro-economic environment.