Cassava Smartech Zimbabwe Limited’s subsidiary, EcoCash’s revenue has continued on a downward trend a development the company attributes to a change in the regulatory frameworks governing mobile money operations in the country.
Earlier this year, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) ordered the closure of mobile money platforms, Ecocash, NetOne’s One Money and Telecel’s Telecash accusing them of fueling money laundering.
There is no indication as to whether the ban on mobile money agents will be removed or not.
In a statement, Cassava said Ecocash’s transactions constituted only 19 percent of the total transactions on the National Payments System down from 30 percent recorded on the same period last year.
Addressing attendants at the company’s half-year ended August 31, 2020, the Cassava chairperson Sherree Shereni said the company’s contributions from Ecocash have also dropped compared to the same period last year. She said:
EcoCash’s revenue contribution, at 63% compared to 73% released last year have declined, both as a result of macro-economic factors and regulatory changes that took place during the period under review, as well as contribution from the exponential growth in the Insurtech and ODS business units.
In an endeavour to address the rapid loss of value of the local currency, the central bank through its subsidiary, the Financial Intelligent Unit (FIU) introduced a cocktail of measures including the reductions in transactional limits, suspension of agent lines, directive to integrate on the Zimswitch platform, among others.
Exchange rates and prices have since the implementation of directives early this year been visibly stable prompting some analysts to concur with the claim that the mobile money platforms to be abused.
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