Sharp rise in EcoCash’s US$ packages
BUSINESS REPORTER
EcoCash Holdings Zimbabwe Limited has reported a sharp increase in the volumes of mobile money transactions in United States packages as Zimbabweans move away from the Zimbabwe dollar transactions.
Company secretary Charmaine Daniels expects the trend to continue going into the future.
“As the market has increased usage of the United States dollar, we have seen a drop in the volume of our local currency mobile money transactions in the period compared to prior year,” Daniels said in a trading update for the third quarter ended November 30, 2022.
She added: “We have focused on growing the mobile money United States dollar transactions distribution footprint across the country.
“The growth has greatly improved customer convenience and physical accessibility to our financial services for United States dollar transaction volumes. We expect this trend to continue as we drive to digitize the United States Dollar cash economy which has continued to grow.
The reduction of IMTT on domestic money transfer transactions from 4% to 2% effective 1 January 2023 is expected to further accelerate the adoption of United States dollar digital money transfer services, the company said.
Its banking unit, Steward Bank, registered 56% growth in mobile banking volumes in the quarter under review against the same period last year.
Interest earning assets recorded an upward trend buoyed by an aggressive drive to grow the foreign currency loan book particularly for the corporate sector.
Point of Sale transaction volumes dropped by 27% confirming the increase in United States dollar cash transactions in the economy.
Daniels said the short-term insurance business was able to sustain its revenue performance over the quarter under review, compared to the previous year.
The business also recorded a lower claims ratio compared to the same period last year. The life business has continued to innovate and re-invent itself with several new value-adding products that include the “Dura Pension Scheme”, “Data Life Cover” and the United States dollar package to grow revenues despite declining disposable incomes.
“We are pleased with the increased adoption of United States Dollar packages that allow the business to enhance life cover through assured United States Dollar benefits. We have continued to leverage on the network of funeral service providers to ensure we adequately provide required services in our customers’ time of greatest need,” Daniels said.
She added: “Our digital platforms business, Vaya Technologies continued to focus on and drive the anchor businesses in Healthtech and On Demand Services. We continue to develop and refine our products in these sectors which we believe have yet to fully realise their potential. As we progress into the next quarter and year, we believe we will be able to increase contribution from these nascent businesses to the broader EcoCash Holdings Group performance.”
