The ManicaPost
Business Reporter
LEADING financial services institution, Stanbic Bank, has set up nine branches at tobacco auction floors throughout the country to enable easy access to funds for tobacco farmers during the tobacco selling season which is due to kick off this month.
The implants, as the branches are termed, are geared to serve the banking needs of tobacco farmers countrywide following the decentralisation of tobacco auction floors due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Stanbic Bank’s executive director for Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB), Ms Betty Murambadoro, said the institution responded to the clarion call by its corporate customers to open implants in areas where there is high concentration of farmers for ease of transacting.
The implants constructed in partnership with some of the bank’s tobacco clients are located at selected Zimbabwe Leaf Tobacco (ZLT), Mashonaland Tobacco Company (MTC) and Boostafrica (Boost) branches in Karoi, Rusape, Mvurwi, Marondera and Harare, all of which are set to be operational by the beginning of the tobacco selling season.
“The implants are seasonal and are set to go a long way in improving operational efficiencies as the country grapples with the relentless Covid-19 which has led to the decentralisation of tobacco auction floors,” said Ms Murambadoro.
She said the setting up of the implants at customers’ strategic sites is in line with Stanbic Bank’s distribution strategy and vision which seeks to help its customers perform everyday transactions at a convenient time and place.
Stanbic Bank is the biggest financial investment player in Zimbabwe’s tobacco industry with US$405m offshore and US$20m onshore tobacco facilities currently being enjoyed by the main tobacco merchants and primary producers linked to the major tobacco merchants and their value chains.
“Tobacco production is a key component of the agricultural sector in Zimbabwe and contributes 12 percent of the Gross Domestic Product,” says Ms Murambadoro.
The bank’s head of personal and business banking, Mr Patson Mahatchi, said: “All the farmers will be registered on our digital banking channels after they open tobacco farmers’ accounts with the bank at these different locations. The accounts are tailored to cater for the specific needs of tobacco farmers. Plans are also underway to ensure that ATMs dispensing US dollars and local currency are made available at the implants to increase ease of access to cash for the farmers.”
He added that it is also the bank’s obligation to help in minimising the farmers’ transport costs where possible, as well as encouraging physical distancing by reducing overcrowding during the pandemic.
Tobacco is a strategic export crop in Zimbabwe.
lt generates foreign currency earnings in excess of US$900 million annually.
