Steward Bank, Zimbabwe’s largest bank by depositors, last month opened a remittance centre in Harare which caters for both international and local remittances.

The state-of-the-art remittance centre, where customers can access funds sent from within Zimbabwe or abroad, is situated at the Eastgate Complex in Harare.

Customers can collect money sent via SasaiRemit, EcoCashRemit, StewardRemit, WorldRemit and many others.

Market analysts believe the new outlet is part of Steward Bank’s strategy to provide an integrated retail and digital customer experience designed to make it convenient for customers to collect their foreign currency in a clean, safe and secure environment.

In the past few years, Steward Bank has partnered with several global money transfer agents, including HelloPaisa, MoneyGram and Mama Money — among many others – to facilitate the free flow of remittances into the country.

The World Bank estimates that remittance flows into Zimbabwe reached US$2 billion last year against US$1.4 billion in 2021 and $1 billion in 2020.

Steward Bank Chief executive officer Courage Mashavave said the financial institution recently introduced intra-bound remittances and scaled up Steward Remit to enable access to foreign currency. Mashavave said in his festive season message to customers:

We are collaborating with agencies across the country, in areas such as Mutoko and Murehwa. Compared to this time last year, we have tripled our Customer Satisfaction Index, demonstrating that we are increasing our customers’ expected service and product quality.

Meanwhile, StewardRemit, which allows real-time US dollar money transfers across the country for both Steward Bank account holders and non-account holders, has reduced its transaction charges.

The StewardRemit send-money charge was reduced from 5% to 3% of the transaction amount, inclusive of 2% IMT tax.