Econet Wireless has announced that users of its mobile money service, EcoCash will be able to access loan facilities through the EcoCashSave Account.
The service is expected to incorporate all the 900,000 account holders and is to be effected in the beginning of the next year.
This development comes in the realization that the service has more account holders that all the banks put together in the country.
“We have more than 900 000 account holders, compared to 850 000 for all the banks,” Econet Wireless chief executive, Mr Douglas Mboweni, said.
The use of mobile phone for personal banking has proliferated through out sub Saharan countries pioneered by Kenya’s M-Shwari product that allows M-Pesa holders to open accounts where they could save and even borrow money.
Seeing that EcoCash has surpassed traditional banking models, is mobile the only future in banking in Africa?