By HELE ZULU –
INVESTRUST Bank PLC has invested over K150 million in the last four years in upgrading its digital platforms to service its customers better.
Bank managing director Simangolwa Shakalima said the bank moving into using digital platforms to try and serve its customers better and had in the last four years invested over K150 million in upgrading its platforms.
Mr Shakalima said the bank was now able to offer mobile banking services, internet banking and was the bank behind the Zamtel Kwacha programme.
He was speaking in an interview after he toured the Times Printpak Zambia Limited stand at the just-ended 91st Agriculture and Commercial Show held under the theme: “Promoting a Green Economy.”
“The concept of providing services 24/7 is incomplete without banking across various channels. We have invested over K150 million in the last four years to upgrade digital platforms to service customers better.
“We are now offering mobile banking, our internet banking system is one of the best, we are moving away from paper based transactions to more of electronic but also with those electronic transactions, we are bringing in convenience and accessibility,” Mr Shakalima said.
He said the bank had also embraced its reach by introducing what it was calling agency banking, which meant that it was no longer relying on its branches to offer banking services to its clients but the agents across the country for that purpose.
Mr Shakalima said currently the bank had close to 500 agents across the country and was in the next 18 months intending to get 1,500 more in places where the bank was not represented.
“So the agents will be offering basic services such as opening an account, depositing cash and withdrawing cash,” he said.
Investrust head of retail and business banking Geoffrey Ndama said the bank was committed to bringing improved accessibility to financing for small and medium enterprises through agents banking.
“We will come up with a product which is a card called ‘invest go’, the card is one of the money transmission elements that you can use.
“All you need to do is go to our branch to a machine and pay a K40 and buy a card, you can load cash on the card which is a visa-enabled card which you can use anywhere even abroad,” he said.