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Business Reporter
STANBIC Bank Zimbabwe has increased the number of merchant bill payment options on its Blue247 mobile banking platform as it seeks to facilitate payment without the need to access hard cash in this cash crisis.

Head of digital channels for Stanbic Bank, Mr Paul Banga said the new merchant bill payment options stretch from tertiary institutions, where account holders can pay their fees on the platform, to retail institutions, allowing customers to pay off their accounts conveniently using their mobile devices.

“We are pleased to introduce these additional billers to our customers and we hope that they will take advantage of this offering to help them manage the need for cash,” said Mr Banga.

He said additional billers that have already been activated on the bank’s mobile platform include ZOL, Zimbabwe School of Mines, Bulawayo City Council, TV Sales & Home, Women’s University, Africa University, Edgars, Jet, Truworths, Topics, Powertel as well as Econet, NetOne and Telecel postpaid bills (contract lines).

The new list adds to the existing TelOne, DStv, airtime (all networks) and Zesa billers, bringing the bill payment options available on Blue247 to 18.

“The bank is currently working on adding more billers for its customers’ convenience,” said Banga.

He confirmed that Stanbic Bank was on a digitisation journey, “one of the key offerings any bank can give its customers” in order to migrate transactions from the branch onto digital platforms.

Mr Banga said the initiative rides on the convenience of increased bill payment capabilities on universal mobile devices.

“We do have other digital platforms such as online and enterprise banking for personal, business and corporate clients, but we also understand the need for our customers to transact even without an internet connection, hence the move to increase our mobile banking capabilities,” he said.

The prevailing cash shortage has seen the Zimbabwean people progressively adjusting to cashless transactions and embracing strategic solutions such as mobile and online platforms being offered by various financial institutions.