Over the last three years, the Zambian National Commercial Bank (ZANACO) has recorded a continued positive growth. According to the press release and virtual media briefing hosted on June 25th 2020 at the ZANACO innovation lab, ZANACO managed to post a respectable profit because of the measures taken to expand the product offering which resulted in an 11% year on year (YoY) growth in revenue and all this was despite the current weak macroeconomic fundamentals. A 100% dividend increase was declared and a dividend of K75 million was stated representing a year on year (YoY) growth of over 100% and a profit after tax of K200 Million.
Technological developments and digitalization of the bank were some of the milestones that were achieved by the bank with the launch of the ZeeWallet product making headlines. ZANACO’s ZeeWallet is a mobile solution that allows customers to access banking services through their mobile phones and this product was launched in 2019.
As the first bank to have obtained the ISO27001 Certification – an international standard that recognizes the effective management of the security of information risks, ZANACO is keen on ensuring that it adequately supports the growth of its customers, the communities it operates in and most of all the country as a whole. ZANACO is on a journey about delivering the future of banking today and that means being smarter, leaner, and more efficient.
After recording excellent performance in 2019, the prognosis for the performance of ZANACO bank in 2020 in light of the COVID-19 looks good, as the first quarter(Q1) of the year was strong despite an economic slowdown. The impact that COVID-19 has had on the bank itself and how it carries out its business has been minimal because the bank has been pursuing its digital transformation strategy the last three years; pushing more customers on a noncash transaction strategy thus the pandemic helped it and it is expected that within a year, they will be in the range of what they had initially planned.
There has also been an increase in transactions via digital platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic in the second quarter(Q2). Cashless solutions like ZANACO Xpress and XAPAY – which is a relatively new technology on the market – launched by ZANACO as well, have seen an uptrend in some daily businesses like bus drivers and marketeers using it and there has been tremendous growth in the usage of digital transactions by the Zambians. Furthermore, ZANACO has been very proactive during the pandemic and has helped its clients with where loan restructuring is necessary.
The words “Big, Strong and Reliable” are indeed a true reference to the Zambian financial institution. Achievements mentioned above and much more have named ZANACO as the best bank in Zambia in 2020 according to Global Finance. Furthermore, as one of the top-performing banks in the country, ZANACO bank has continued to strengthen its proposition for quality savings and current account deposits. Mr Mulder, the CEO of ZANACO, stated in a comment that the future outlook of the bank is focused on being the most efficient and financially sustainable top transactional financial institution by 2025 with a focus on driving transactions through the use of digital platforms and provision of the best in value customer service proposition.
