By KENNEDY MUPESENI –

THE Zambia National Building Society (ZNBS) has mobilised more than K7 million deposits through the ‘Save and Win’ promotion which was launched in November last year.
And the Bank of Zambia (BoZ) has said it plans to establish a unified collateral registry which will record all registration charges on movable and immovable properties created by borrowers to secure credit.
Speaking at the launch of ZNBS Soweto Agency in Lusaka on Wednesday, ZNBS managing director Joseph Chikolwa said ZNBS had mobilised more than K7million since the promotion started with over 1, 600 account holders.
“We project to mobilise at least K20 million worth of deposit by May this year and this will in turn support our core business of mortgage provision,” Mr Chikolwa said.
He said the company decided to open a branch at Soweto to provide savings solutions to marketeers looking at the potential the area has.
At the same function BoZ director non-bank supervision Visscher Bbuku said the central bank would soon establish a unified collateral registry to provide information on the existing relationship between lenders and borrowers.
“Overall ,the expected  benefit of the collateral  registry will increase access to loanable funds as this will bring about reduced risk in lending, increased competition among financial service providers and contribute to lower lending rates,”  Mr Bbuku said.
He said this would also result in increased acceptance by lenders of diverse movable and immovable assets as collateral which would help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in country.
Given the low levels of financial literacy in the country the BoZ is spearheading the implementation of the National Strategy on Financial Education as another trajectory for the growth of the financial sector.
Mr Bbuku said informed consumers would take advantage of increased competition and choices in the financial sector.
He said this would further help in overcoming current financial problems while gaining more access to structured financing.