Zanaco

Z A M B I A N AT I O N A L COMMERCIAL BANK

ZAMBIA NATIONAL COMMERCIAL BANK

Half A Century of

Financial Innovation PRODUCTION: Timothy Reeder

Founded in 1969 by the country’s government, Zambia National Commercial Bank (Zanaco) is a commercial bank with a comprehensive service offering including loans, savings and investments. Alongside these, an unerring policy of constant innovation has led to a number of key firsts for the bank and a customer base spanning the entire territory, as it nears its 50th year of operations.

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Zanaco is a major financial services provider in Zambia, with the bank’s total assets as of December 2017 valued at some ZMW 9.543 billion (US$961 million).

Prior to 2007, the bank was fully owned by the government, in which year 49% of its shares were sold to the Rabobank Group, a banking company from the Netherlands, and listed on the Lusaka

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Stock Exchange the following year.

2017 brought shareholders’ equity of ZMW 1.024 billion (US$103.1 million), with the bank’s network numbering branches, agencies and over 100 ATMs across the country.

COUNTRYWIDE COVERAGE Zanaco’s footprint has grown to encompass nearly the entirety of

Zambia. At its in inception in 1969 the bank set out to be the leading retail outfit in the country, and realised from the outset that this would only be achieved through the provision of comprehensive financial services to the whole of the Zambian public.

Zanaco is certainly the bank that can claim to be closest to its customers: its 180 branches are to be found in 74 of

INDUSTRY FOCUS: FINANCE

Zambia’s 84 districts, and in all 10 of its provinces.

In addition to its own vast branch network, Zanaco has partnered with the Zambian post office, ZamPost, to allow Zanaco customers to deposit and withdraw funds from their accounts at Zampost outlets. These total around one hundred and are distributed all over Zambia, in both rural and urban locales.

Quite apart from its banking concerns, Zanaco has homed in on football’s universal appeal, which is felt perhaps nowhere more keenly than in Zambia, in the form of its Lusaka-based Zanaco Football Club.

Formed in 1978 as a social team by management trainees of the bank, as of the 1980s Zanaco FC began to grow steadily from being these humble beginnings to one of the most successful and decorated clubs in Zambian football history. In recent years the club has won seven Super League trophies, four Charity Shields and one Coca-Cola Cup, to name but a few.

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WAY AHEAD OF THE REST “Today, we want to connect the dots for you.” This is the mission statement underpinning Zanaco, both headquartered and with its main branch in in the central business district of Lusaka, Zambia’s capital and largest city.

“Zanaco’s journey and evolution has been about innovation and constant change,” says the bank.

“We have always been about innovation - we were the first to introduce ATMs in this country - while not a lot of people realise this, but we were also the first to launch agency banking, which keeps evolving and getting better by becoming nearer to and more convenient for our customers.” Zanaco’s work has been largely credited with turning Zambian banking from what was previously a time-consuming and confusing chore, to something of a pleasure.

Mobile banking services have been central to this shift in consumer attitude, by reducing transaction costs, improving payment systems and helping customers to avoid the often-

frustrating experience of the traditional banking services. Zanaco was on hand to release one of the first, and certainly the most popular, m-banking solutions in the country.

“2008 was a milestone year for us,” Zanaco admits. “We launched the Xapit instant banking platform, an innovation that changed the face of banking throughout the nation as the first product of its kind.” Xapit succeeded in enabling customers to check balances, carry out mobile and inter-account transfers, pay bills and manage their accounts. “With the mobile phone transactions, the bank was breaking the barriers of traditional banking to make it more convenient, accessible, fun and cheaper,” observed Mizinga

// ZANACO’S JOURNEY AND EVOLUTION HAS BEEN ABOUT INNOVATION AND CONSTANT CHANGE //

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In emerging markets such as Zambia, mobile technology is transforming access to banking services for people living in both rural and urban areas. Zanaco is also replacing its ATMs with new money deposit equipment features, which, says Chief Commercial Officer Lishala Situmbeko, will allow the bank to reposition itself to meet customer needs and facilitate 30% of banking transactions at ATMs in the short to medium term. “Customer

// CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS HAVE EVOLVED, AND WE JUST HAVE TO MOVE WITH THE TIMES //

requirements have evolved, and we just have to move with the times,” she said.

“Customers need innovative products and in response we are offering efficient and tailor-made solutions and services.”

FRESH PLANS FOR GROWTH “As we look to the future, our focus remains on being committed to continuously evolving and repositioning ourselves in order to become even more accessible to our customers,” sums up Zanaco as it bids to solidify its position at the top of Zambian banking. Just this year the bank refreshed its brand with a promise to support the growth of its customers, businesses, communities and the national economy, as it pursues its journey to become the top transactional bank in Zambia by 2020.

“We relooked at our responsibility to the people in communities that we serve, as well as to the people of

Zambia,” said Zanaco Board Chairperson, Ms Charity Lumpa. “We decided that we are going to be relevant in your lives by being your preferred and trusted partner in growth. It is no wonder, therefore, that we are committed to supporting you, our communities and the nation of Zambia to grow.”

“We realise that, in order to meet our customers’ evolving needs, we have to be modern in our delivery of banking services,” concluded Zanaco Managing Director and CEO, Henk Mulder. “As a progressive bank, we are moving with time and creating strong digital platforms that characterise modern banking. We created a dedicated digital department that is driving our robust digital banking platforms,” Mr Mulder said.

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