South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) has launched a mobile money transfer system to facilitate payments from South Africa to Zimbabwe.
The new Cellphone Banking channel allows South African customers to send money to Zimbabwe at favourable rates, after research released by the World Bank revealed approximately ZAR6.7 billion (US$748 million) is sent from South Africa to Zimbabwe annually.
Of the ZAR6.7 billion (US$748 million) sent to Zimbabwe by the 1.9 million Zimbabwean nationals living in South Africa, the World Bank research suggests, 20 per cent of the money is spent on money transfer costs.
“FNB’s Zimbabwe Money Transfer service is more convenient and economical than anything else offered in the market,” said Yolande van Wyk, head of digital and alternative banking for FNB Africa.
“We have done extensive research into the cross border remittance market and devised a service that is readily accessible to the people who need it most. People don’t always have the time to travel to the bank during working hours, and often need to send money home instantly and easily.”
The service is based on a tiered pricing system; transfers between ZAR100 (US$11) and ZAR1,000 (US$111) costing ZAR45 (US$5), and transfers between ZAR1,001(US$111) and ZAR1,500 (US$167) priced at ZAR70 (US$7.8).
Users may transfer up to ZAR1,500 (US$167) per day, to a total of ZAR10,000 (US$1,116) per month.
Key innovations in the service include the lack of currency conversion rates – allowing payments of South African Rand to Zimbabwean Dollars without currency costs – and the zero transaction cost enjoyed by recipients.
Zimbabwe-based recipients of transfers must be Zimbabwean residents and hold a Zimbabwean identity document.
Money may be collected at participating OK Ltd stores in Harare and Bulawayo, with rollout to other locations ongoing.
