“We are also happy to announce that we have made significant progress in concluding similar partnership arrangements with other councils across the country. Despite the challenging economic times, partnerships such as this improves collaboration allowing us to build and progress faster as a nation,” Dr Mambondiani added.

Ngoni Dapira

THE newly introduced integrated payment solution point of sale (POS) device by BancABC will soon be rolled out countrywide to help improve the efficiency of payment systems in local authorities EasternTimesZim has learnt.

BancABC, a subsidiary of the Pan African banking giant Atlas Mara last week Thursday partnered with the Harare City Council and City Parking to introduce innovative payment solutions across all the council’s platforms throughout the city. Harare Mayor, Herbert Gomba and BancABC chief executive officer Dr Lance Mambondiani officially opened the facility at the Town Hall.

BancABC and Harare City Council executives during the official launch of the ‘A POS’ facility.

The integrated payment solution is expected to complement City of Harare’s current drive where it is encouraging residents to timeously pay their water bills at the council halls as well as to increase convenience for motorists who have been struggling to pay for parking services in the central business district due to shortages of electronic paying points.

BancABC digital marketing and public relations manager Emma Nherera in a follow up interview said the bank has plans to roll out the partnership facility to other city councils in the coming months. “I will advise when we have finalised a date for Mutare,” said Nherera.

The bank, which is currently going through an aggressive digital transformation process, has rolled out in Harare over 350 devices, which have been named, A-POS, to help make city parking payments easier and more convenient.

The A-POS takes all debit and credit cards and is also able to process EcoCash Payments.

The A-POS machines are light-weight and easy for parking attendants to carry in their pocket. The machines have a battery life of up to 16 hours which allows parking attendants to operate the whole day without worrying about charging the device.

Nherera added that customers who use the A-POS machine will no longer get printed receipts, as these are sent to their mobile phone via SMS making them very eco-friendly.

“Some of the features of the A-POS that makes it different from your standard POS, to begin with, its lightweight and portability. It fits in your pocket so it is ideal for parking attendants, informal traders, SMEs (Small to Medium Enterprises) etc. The battery lasts for up to 16 hours on one charge. This means a vendor can charge overnight then conduct business throughout the day with no disruptions. The A-POS also takes all debit and credit cards and is able to process EcoCash Payments,” she said.

Speaking at the launch, Dr Mambondiani said they were excited to partner with Harare City Council in providing digital payment solutions to facilitate quick and convenient payments to members of the public. “This is just the beginning, we will be rolling out further payment innovations through these platforms shortly and also extend this smart partnership to include financial solutions to some of the projects that the council is working on to improve service delivery in the city and make our contribution as financial intermediators,” said the BancABC Ceo.

“We are also happy to announce that we have made significant progress in concluding similar partnership arrangements with other councils across the country. Despite the challenging economic times, partnerships such as this improves collaboration allowing us to build and progress faster as a nation,” Dr Mambondiani added.

Harare Mayor, Clr Gomba commended BancABC for partnering with the Council to improve rate collections which he said will improve service delivery across the council’s banking Halls.

As part of the partnership, BancABC country head of digital payments Paul Banga announced the launch of the “Cut Above The Rest” Campaign where each month 10 lucky customers will have their bill cut by 10 to 20 percent. In order to qualify a customer simply has to swipe on a BancABC POS machine using any Zimswitch enabled card. Any council payments from RTGS$200 to $1000 per month qualify during this campaign. He encouraged customers to request the A-POS machine when paying their city parking fees.

“The campaign encourages customers to pay their utility bills on time and stand a chance to win back 10 percent of their monthly council bill. The bank has also launched an exciting social media competition where customers stand a chance to win one-year of free parking when using an A-POS machine to pay for their parking,” said Banga.