Yesterday I got the shock of my life after walking into the Ecobank branch in Southerton. Despite the Ecobank branch having two signs, one of them a large lit sign showing that they offer Mukuru services, the security and staff inside the bank denied me service. According to them, they will not serve you unless you are an account holder.
I explained several times that I was not an account holder with the bank. I only wanted to collect cash that I had received via Mukuru. I have used this branch several times to collect money via Mukuru and Western Union. The last time was last week, so you can understand my confusion. In the end, they were a little annoyed but they kept their cool and said they were not serving people who did not hold an account with the bank.
I checked in the Mukuru app but it didn’t have this information. Ecobank Southerton was still listed as an outlet and there were no restrictions mentioned. The app is often confusing and outdated when it comes to stuff like this though so you shouldn’t take it seriously. For example:
- BancABC Southerton is mentioned as an outlet but it isn’t
- So is CABS Southerton which again is not
- The app says there is a booth near OK, the booth has been gone for months
I could go on but I hope you see the picture. They even show these booths in bold green claiming they had paid out money in the past few hours even though there are not such booths.
The remittances pie
Remittances are an important source of income to a lot of Zimbabweans and it’s a sector that has seen continual growth over the years. According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the country received over a billion US dollars in remittances last year.
With foreign currency scarce in this country every Fintech company wants a slice of this pie. When they are not jostling to set up their own remittance services they are in a race to partner with companies like Mukuru and Western Union. For example, CBZ has a whole branch dedicated to handling remittances.
What is Ecobank thinking?
Which makes you wonder what Ecobank is thinking. Unfortunately, I could never get a response from them on the issue. My entreaties to them never got a response. I was, however, able to ascertain that I was not alone. A number of people have reported receiving the same treatment from other branches. They were turned away while trying to use Ecobank’s Western Union or Mukuru services because they did not account holders.
This means that there could already be a change in policy although again without Ecobank’s feedback it will be hard to answer the burning questions that I have. Like what prompted this change in policy, because as recently as last week they were serving everyone. The only biggest change out there is SI 127 of 2021 but how does it apply here? Is this temporary or permanent? Does it affect all branches or just a select few branches?
For now, though bear this in mind if you want Mukuru and Western Union remittances Ecobank branches might not serve you unless you have an account with them. It’s possible that having their lite account will turn you into an account holder.
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8 comments
No need for alarm, they might be just running low on cash so they have opted to prioritise their core clientele. Nothing amiss, other banks used to do this.
Maybe they don’t even have physical cash, so their clients can deposit into a nostro, something you can’t do as a non-account holder.
At the end of the day, it’s an Ecobank offering Mukuru services, not a Mukuru branch offering Ecobank services.
This is not alarm, this is concern and annoyance. Your example doesn’t help either. The last time banks started to turn away non-account holders who wanted to withdraw money from their ATMs the situation metastised into the disaster we are currently seeing. It didn’t stop or cure the cash shortages. They persisted to the point where ATMs were simply shuttered. We are just starting to see them come back online. Bad service must never ever be downplayed as you are doing. If you advertise that you offer a certain service make sure to state all conditions associated with your provision of service. Don’t advertise that you offer something and fail to deliver.
It’s not the banks fault, it’s the environment. Mukuru is the one that shouldn’t accept remittances, if they can’t be honoured on the receiving end. In all likelihood, the money you are receiving will not return to the banking system. If it does, only a meagre fraction will do so, but you expect copious funds to be available at the bank next time.
Had a weird experience at OK 1st Street this past week. Was told to go to a bank because OK doesn’t process remittances from South Africa. I have no idea if that was a branch thing, a currency thing, a supply thing, a timing thing, a legal thing or a divine decree thing 🤷🏾♂️
Mukuru might’ve become a nuisance with so many of these funny Pyramid schemes using Mukuru for payments
Let’s not force this banks to give a service which they can no longer give yes they used to but now they can’t
So you can use the Eco bank card of Mozambique you can withdraw cash in Zim Ecobank
I think it’s just cheap tactics by the bank to try and get people to open accounts.