Mobile money services giant, Ecocash has added it’s footprint into the foreign currency trading market, becoming the first of any mobile money services platform in the country to enable customers to instantly convert foreign currency into local RTGS balances.
Ecocash Bureau de Change, dubbed the “Smart Change Money,” directly links customers Foreign Currency Accounts (FCAs) to the Ecocash FCA Wallet then by a simple dial of *150# on a mobile phone will give access to bureau de change services which ultimately leads to the Ecocash exchange rate for the day.
But for one to be able to use this service, they should have a USD balance in their FCA wallet.
Customers have the privilege to request the exchange rates for the day and can only convert upon realizing a favorable rate trading at a particular point in time.
As of time of the launch, the Ecocash exchange rate against the USD was trading at USD 1: ZWL$ 10.8, pretty much within the range trading on the parallel market.
‘In this highly volatile macro-economic environment we envisioned a situation where what if we start moving towards stabilization. We then realized we might need a currency converter,”
“We have come up with a mobile wallet-centric, bureau de change. We are offering you today in real time bureau de change on your cellphone. We are introducing you on your cellphone the ability to change your money in the comfort of your home,” Ecocash CEO, Natalie Jabangwe said at the launch.
The digital solution comes at a time there are widespread exchange rate distortions particularly on the parallel market where customers are given a raw deal from unscrupulous money changers on the streets.
“This is a game changer. There is no need for one to be charged 30 percent or so commission just to convert your foreign currency,” Jabangwe added.
Ecocash has played a big part in the financial inclusion landscape in the country, amassing around 10 million active subscribers to date and this latest innovation will mainly benefit recipients of diaspora remittances who will have to convert their earnings into local currency.
The innovation has been shelved for the past two years and thanks to the Statutory Instrument 142 of 2019, which deregulated the multi-currency system that it only became feasible for Ecocash to launch the product.
“The Bureau de change market should continue being innovative and tap into this market to be able to harness freely flowing cash from our diaspora,” Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) deputy director for exchange control Obvious Runesu said.
To date, the RBZ has licensed more than 46 bureau de change country wide as it seeks to bolster participants on the inter bank foreign currency market beyond the conventional banks.
Analysts have welcomed Ecocash’s intrusion into the market, given its huge subscriber base that is likely to augment foreign currency inflows into the formal banking channels to spur the efficiency of the inter bank market.
Zimbabwean banks are reeling from foreign currency deficiency to meet external payments for essential import products such as fuel and electricity.
