FCB to roll out more product services this year

ZIMBABWE Stock Exchange (ZSE)-listed First Capital Bank has pledged to continue rolling out more product services for its clients this year, as it continues to expand its market footprint across different sectors of the economy.

Formerly Barclays Bank, FCB was born in 2017 with its holding company FMB Capital Holdings based in Mauritius and listed on the Malawi Stock Exchange.

In a recent interview here, the bank’s managing director, Mr Ciaran McSharry, said they have invested heavily in the Zimbabwean market, particularly, in the hospitality and agriculture sectors through loans to farmers and the development of irrigation infrastructure.

“We are here to stay for a long time,” said Mr McSharry, adding that the bank has a solid strategy around growth, leveraging on partnerships and technology to introduce a host of products and services designed to make banking more convenient, affordable, and inclusive.

“We’re a big bank in the context of Zimbabwe and last year we had a tremendously busy year. In terms of products, we launched a new mobile banking app, which was an improvement from its predecessor.

“We launched a new internet banking platform and a system called ‘Infinipay’, which is a back payment tool and host-to-host allowing bigger corporates to transact and becomes much more efficient,” he said.

“We will be launching a new Point of Sale device, which takes us from legacy as we try and catch up. The new POS takes all currencies on one device using one machine.”

In the course of the year, Mr McSharry said the bank was planning to roll out a new product that will enhance hospitality industry operations in terms of improved bookings and payments by local and global travellers.

POS machine

“We will continue to develop and enhance our products as we go through the year,” he said.

While there are no plans to expand the branch network, the managing director said the bank continues to study the market countryside with a view to coming up with innovative products that are tailor-made for rural-based customers.

FCB is also involved in corporate social responsibility events and activities such as cancer awareness and transitioning to paperless banking with mobile, WhatsApp, and internet banking services.

“We are like a universal bank as we cover a wide spectrum of the community. We have a large corporate bank, which handles, corporates, and SMEs.

“We don’t have housing projects around the country per se, but we do have lending support and some of them could be in building. We are big in the agriculture space and we have done quite a lot in the tourism space particularly during Covid-19 to reduce impact. It is my belief that this is all about long-time relationships and long-term ownership,” he said.

The banking group has operations in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe where there are more than 25 branches countrywide.

FCB operates in all sectors of the Zimbabwean market covering retail, small to medium enterprises, big business, corporate and institutional. – -chronicle.c.zw