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NetOne awarded Bureau De Change license

Telecommunications giant NetOne has been awarded a license by the Reserve bank of Zimbabwe to operate as a Bureau De Change.

Bureau de change is the fastest growing sector in the African financial services industry in terms of the number of institutions that have developed over the last 10 years.

The Zimbabwe dollar became the sole currency for legal tender purposes, on the 24th of June following to adoption of SI142, which seeks to restore Economic stability by putting in place key fundamentals for sustainable growth.

This move has propelled the RBZ to issue over 46 Bureau de change licences, in a move to increase the number of participants in the formalised foreign currency market to complement the service from banking institutions, reducing the risks associated with the black market which is largely informal.

NetOne Bureau De Change allows Zimbabweans to buy and sell foreign currency at selected NetOne outlets. Currently NetOne’s Kopje Plaza shop has been licensed for this purpose and has been offering competitive rates with the buying rate ranging from ZWL11.2 to ZWL11.7 since the beginning of this week. The selling rate was at ZWL12.42, albeit subject to availability.

Customers selling their foreign currency have 3 options within which they can receive funds; namely cash, OneMoney as well as ZIPIT to bank accounts of their choice.The Bureau De Change service compliments the OneMoney offering which has been experiencing exponential growth since 2017. OneMoney is secure and provides a robust system that connects to 18 banks via the ZIPIT platform offering seamless transacting capacity across this ecosystem.

In addition, it offers a Zimswitch enabled debit card which allows customers to swipe at any POS machine nationwide and has a fantastic integrated POS option that allows customers to pay without the need for a phone or debit card, wherein they can simply punch in their phone numbers and PIN directly to the POS Machines- which has redefined the shopping experience.

Corporates and other Bulk Payers can also enjoy the convenience of OneMoney through its OnePay offering the disbursement of salaries which allows for social security, grants and other bulk payments to multiple wallets instantly and at highly competitive transactional fees.

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Byron Adonis Mutingwende