Matthew Hill Lusaka
Zambia National Commercial Bank (Zanaco), which is adding 800 new customers daily, sees further growth by offering cellphone transactions to the almost two-thirds of potential clients in the country who have no bank account.
“We see today that approximately 37 percent of the bankable population has been reached,” Martyn Schouten, the managing director of Zanaco, said last week. “So two-thirds of those who could be banked are not banked yet. Until we catch up with those numbers, the outlook for bank growth in Zambia is positive.”
Lenders in Africa’s biggest copper producer have benefited from the economy expanding at an estimated 7.3 percent last year, according to Bank of Zambia data. Loans grew by almost a fifth from January to October last year, the Bankers’ Association of Zambia said.
Zanaco planned to boost customer numbers by providing cellphone banking services after forming an alliance with Bharti Airtel’s local unit, Schouten said.
The lender aimed to grow its customer base to 1 million by 2015, a 62 percent rise from 617 000 at the end of last year.
Zanaco is trying to emulate the success of lenders in Kenya, where in June last year the value of cellphone money transactions equalled 60 percent of the country’s monthly gross domestic product, according to telecommunications trade group GSMA.
Schouten said cellphone money transfers would continue to grow in Zambia. “We are taking some early steps in those areas and I think we will see other banks follow down the road.”
Standard Chartered, Barclays and Standard Bank have operations in Zambia.
Zanaco made 156 million kwacha (R262m) in after-tax profit in 2012, a 30 percent year-on-year increase. – Bloomberg