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Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
ECOCASH and its South African partners have secured approval from the South Africa Reserve Bank to start a cross border remittance service from the neighbouring country to Zimbabwe.

EcoCash is a mobile money transfer service run by Econet Wireless, Zimbabwe’s leading telecommunications firm.

Econet said the approval allows Zimbabweans living in South Africa to send money directly to any Econet number anywhere in the country using EcoCash.

The mobile operator hinted the service could take several weeks to be fully established but hoped all systems will be in place “by the end of next month”.

It said the approval, which took over 18 months to secure, will come as a major relief for Zimbabweans working in South Africa in terms of hassles of sending money home.

“It’ll be as accessible, quick and convenient as making a ‘cash-in’ to EcoCash in Zimbabwe,” said Econet.

The mobile firm said Zimbabweans living in South Africa will be able to send remittances of less than R50 denominations at “affordable” rates.

It predicted that the new service would fundamentally alter the pattern of remittances, which are presently characterised by large, lump sum transfers of around R1,000.

Econet says this innovative “micro-remittance” solution will stimulate increased remittances into Zimbabwe and help ease liquidity challenges in the economy.

Towards the end of last year, Econet and Western Union entered into a partnership to offer consumers fast and reliable international money transfers.

Through the facility, consumers in Zimbabwe who use the EcoCash mobile money service have the option of receiving a Western Union Money Transfer transaction on their mobile phones. Consumers can receive funds from money transfer transactions initiated at the Western Union transactional websites in 23 countries, or Western Union agent locations around the world.

EcoCash customers in Zimbabwe can also use their mobile phones to direct funds they are about to receive to their personal account with EcoCash mobile wallet.

The agreement between the two companies also allows Zimbabweans abroad to send money back home from a Western Union transactional websites or selected Western Union global agent locations directly to a mobile money account or EcoCash mobile wallet in Zimbabwe.