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Money Transfers Big Boost for Zimpost(AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) THE country's postal service operator, Zimpost, says it earned at least US$300,000 in commission from transactions processed under its new money transfer facility, Zipcash, during the last quarter of 2013. The money transfer service, which was launched on Oct 21 last year, allows Zimbabweans to send money locally and internationally using an electronic platform. Zimpost acting Managing Director Douglas Zimbango told New Ziana that the money transfer service was performing reasonably well in the local market. "It is working out very well. We have earned close to US$300,000 USD as commission from local transactions since October when we launched it to December which is quite encouraging," he said. Zimbango, however, said internationally, the money transfer service was only available in one country because of delays in securing approval from various countries the company intended to operate with. "Internationally it is taking time because the central banks in most countries we intend to deal with are yet to give approval to their Post Offices for us to commence transactions," he said. "Currently we are dealing with Tanzania only but we are waiting for South Africa and the other countries to approve and we are hoping all this would be concluded by the end of January." Zimpost had indicated last year that it had signed co-operation agreements with a number of countries, including South Africa, Botswana and Nigeria, while negotiations with several others were lined up. The new money transfer service which uses an electronic platform replaces the old money order system which was slow as it required paperwork to move from one post office to the other. For Post Offices which are not connected to the Internet, Zimpost said it would employ the use of a cell phone to conduct transactions. Zimpost launched the money transfer facility as part of efforts to incorporate the use of information communication technology (ICT) in its operations. It is also a product of a US$3.0 million computerisation exercise which Zimpost has embarked on. Copyright New Zimbabwe. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |