Maravi

BoZ calls for more ATMs

BoZ calls for more ATMs
By Fridah Zinyama
Monday August 06, 2007 [04:00]

THE Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has urged the banking sector to increase the number of automated machines across the country to improve service delivery. During a tour of the BoZ stand on Saturday at the 81st Agricultural and Commercial Show, director of banking, currency, and payment systems Morris Mulomba said Zambia only had 100 ATMs currently.

“There are only about 500, 000 cardholders in Zambia and this number is likely to increase with most banks reducing their bank drafts,” he said.

Mulombo said the banking sector had so far invested about K800 billion in the installation of automated machines.

And BoZ has revealed that lease financing from the banking sector has gone down mainly due to competition from micro-finance institutions.

“Competition in the banking sector has brought about a lot of change in the way the banking sector has been performing,” he said. “Coupled with government’s withdrawal from issuing government bonds, the banks have had to be innovative in their dealings.”

He said lack of dealings with government had forced the banking sector to deal with the private sector.

“This has seen the banking sector going back to communities and offering lower bank balance in order to attract more customers,” Mulombo said.

He added that with the stability coming from lower interest rates, there had been increased activity in the economy due to more funds being available in the market.

He also added that there had been an impressive growth in the banks total assets.

Labels: ATM, BANKING, BOZ

posted by MrK @ 3:32 AM