A very acadeic aguement guys keep on locking horns.I am pro-EcoCash, in my view these guys must be aplauded for thinking outside the box.I admire their creativity and speed.Indeed banks have been caught sleeping.Where on earth can banks survive on fee Income/Non-Funded Income.It is known that banks's profits world wide come from Funded Income-Lending.The nightmare for banks is to raise deposits (Liabilities)from which they on lend creating income bearing assets.The Directive by RBZ to reduce charges will further complicate matters for banks.It now needs risk takers who are creative and flexible without compromising on controls.
While its a fact that liquidity is tight on the market, I personally feel that banks are failing to identify exactly where the money is.That is is at the bottom end of the pyramid (BoP).This segment, from some study done now makes up 80%-85% of the market(Mbare Magaba/Musika/Mupedzanhamo are a case in point).The language in this segment is $1 for two and to a businessman this means VOLUMES/NUMBERS.Econet has indeed been very visionary, they saw this from afar.
The question now is do banks do banks see this from the same glasses?Yes,they can run to their mother(RBZ) for protection under the outdated statutes.We are talking of the e-age that is governed by e-regulations and in most cases with no presidents.By the time a law is developed and applied,creative guys will even be ahead of the game.
To banks I say, your R&D has to touch the ground running.They have to be relevant to what is obtaining on the market.As we speak BoP is the market,shortlived as most may think,but the impact is far reaching.Banks have many options to tap into this markets.Think,Think,Think guys.Stop wasting energy shooting at Econet.