BY BUSINESS REPORTER
Insurance firm, Zimnat has launched its own bureau de change, ZFS Bureau de Change, as it seeks to improve its foreign currency stocks.
The new outfit, which will be trading as ZFX Bureau de Change, is a registered tier two bureau de change, which is able to provide both foreign exchange and money transfer services.
As at September, there were 45 licenced bureau de changes in the country.
In a statement yesterday, Zimnat group chief executive Mustafa Sachak said the bureau de change would combine customer-tailored financial services and technology to bring convenience to its customers.
“As a business that is guided by a purpose of making life better, we are driven to always come up with financial solutions that empower all our stakeholders to reach their full potential. The idea of coming up with ZFX was born out of the need to ensure we provide a holistic financial service for our customers,” Sachak said.
“In that vein, we have also partnered with World Remit to ensure that our customers can also receive money from their benefactors in the diaspora and be able to change it under one roof.”
Zimnat hopes that ZFX would strengthen foreign currency availability on the interbank market by providing competitive exchange rates.
The new bureau de change will allow customers to convert their foreign currencies, including United States dollars, British pounds, South African rands and Botswana pula, at competitive market rates.
“This bureau de change has also been born out of the need to provide a safe, legal and convenient place for changing one’s money and leveraging on our widespread distribution network. We hope to provide this convenience in all four corners of the country,” Sachak said.
Following the promulgation of Exchange Control (Amendment) Regulations, 2017, Statutory Instrument 122A of 2017, several people have been arrested for offences related to dealing in currency without a licence or through unauthorised persons.
Zimnat is a diversified financial services group made up of four business units, namely Zimnat General Insurance, Zimnat Life Assurance, Zimnat Microfinance and Zimnat Asset Management.
South African firm, Sanlam, which is the largest non-banking financial services group on the continent, has a significant shareholding in Zimnat.
