Standard Chartered remains committed to maintaining
presence in Zimbabwe and its digitisation strategy — which has seen the
country’s oldest bank closing most of its branches — should not be interpreted
as a deliberate move to wind down operations.
The bank, which is left with only three branches in
Zimbabwe out of 16 it had — two in Harare and one in Bulawayo — said it was
leveraging on the growth opportunities offered by digitalisation.
The closing down of the branches has, however, triggered
speculation that the bank might be divesting from Zimbabwe after succumbing to
pressure from the US over sanctions
breaches.
In April this year, Standard Chartered plc was fined US$1,1
billion by the US authorities for “apparent violations” of sanctions imposed
against a string of countries including Zimbabwe, Iran, Burma, Cuba and Syria.
Of this amount, about US$18 million is in relation to
Zimbabwean operations.According to the US Treasury, Standard Chartered Zimbabwe
processed transactions through the United States involving Zimbabwean entities
or individuals on the sanctions list between May 2009 and July 2013 in breach
of the sanctions code.
However, in emailed responses, the bank’s spokesperson Ms
Lilian Hapanyengwi, told The Herald Finance and Business last week that the
financial institution was committed to doing business in Zimbabwe.
“Standard Chartered has taken the conscious decision to
continue to maintain our long-standing commitment to doing business in
Zimbabwe.
“With a history of over 125 years, we remain committed to
the long-term interests of our staff and customers in Zimbabwe, and to continue
facilitating the development and growth of the
economy.
“We are moving from ‘places where people go to bank’ to
‘brands clients choose for financial transactions’, which means clients will
have more choice and banking will be more convenient.
“The changes in banking . . . are making life better for
all of us — less paper, more efficient and faster services, improved technology
and remote services, more enriching interactions.
“Finally, we will have a much sharper understanding of
clients’ financial behaviour and anticipate future needs to offer tailored
products and services.”
Ms Hapanyengwi said there would be no challenges for
personal banking clients where branches have been closed down because the new
digital bank covers both transaction capability requirements and client
queries.
She said all possible scenarios that could bring a client
to a branch or contact centre have been migrated to the mobile device for
client self-service.Over 70 of the bank’s services are now on the digital
platform.
These include static data changes, card services, bill
payment, funds transfer locally and internationally as well as country specific
services.
“Our channel strategy remains responsive to client needs
and transaction patterns on an ongoing basis.
“As our clients and the world go digital and our branch
transaction traffic is decreasing, we are always evaluating how we should
reformat our current channels to deliver the most efficient service to our
clients,” said Ms Hapanyengwi.
Commenting on job losses, she said while it was inevitable
that some people would lose employment, the bank aimed at redeploying impacted
staff wherever possible. Herald
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