No EcoCash option in the Steward Bank ZIPIT menu, Strange…

It’s a little under two months since ZimSwitch was anointed the National Switch and ushered in an era of true interoperability. We should be able to send money from EcoCash to bank accounts and all mobile money wallets (vice versa). Now, it’s a little strange that we are almost two months into this glorious new age and Steward Bank doesn’t have an EcoCash option in its ZIPIT or external transfers menu.

Ok, I think it would be unfair to pile on Steward Bank without mentioning Banks like Nedbank who only recently announced that transactions to and from EcoCash were possible. NBS is an example of a bank that still doesn’t have a send to EcoCash option.

However, given that Steward and EcoCash share the same parent company, why isn’t the option available to their customers. Stranger still OneMoney and Telecash are available in the Steward Bank external transfers menu.

If you scroll through your EcoCash menu you won’t find Steward Bank listed hmmm…

Wait… Does this even matter?

Well… Yes, it does. There are Steward Bank customers who despite the charges would want to send money to an EcoCash wallet. At present, the only way a Steward Bank customer can send money to an EcoCash wallet is to have that account linked to their EcoCash and then do a bank to wallet and finally send money from that EcoCash wallet to the recipient’s EcoCash wallet. These are a few too many steps for some and the convenience of doing it straight out of their account outweighs the charges they will face.

What doesn’t add up for me is why OneMoney and Telecash are there but EcoCash isn’t. It’s the same for EcoCash as well, most of the other banks are there except you know who.

To find out why things are the way they are we reached out to Cassava for clarification. Unfortunately, we haven’t heard back but if we do, we will be sure to let you know.