“We notified people” says Steward Bank CEO

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Lance Mambondiani

The day before yesterday, Techzim wrote about how Steward Bank had gone exclusive with mobile and online banking and was no longer processing manual RTGS or Internal transfers. When that article was written, we were using the information that we had obtained ourselves. One of the Techzim members had gone to the Avondale branch of Steward Bank to try and do an RTGS transfer.

When they tried to do so, they were told that Steward Bank was no longer processing these transfers. It wasn’t just the team member who was told that but everyone who was in the bank and trying to do the same transfer was also told the same thing. Now, as we were writing the article, we had reached out to Steward Bank for an official comment and they said that they’d get back to us with a response.

Steward Bank has got back to us and they say that they notified people, well, Dr Lance Mambondiani, the CEO of Steward Bank, actually said that. According to him and his team,

A customer notice was issued starting the 15th of September advising customers of our intention to migrate the processing of some payment services such as RTGS, Internal Transfers and Balance enquiry to our mobile platforms. SMS broadcasts were also sent out during this period. Customers visiting any of our branches throughout September would also have seen posters advising customers of this change which we believe will significantly improve the quality of the service we offer. Our core focus is to improve customer experience through digitisation especially through the square App which is mobile-driven. We appreciate that we have a large customer base and it is not always possible to reach everyone at the same time, this is why we are assisting some of our customers who might still need to rely on paper-based transfers through this transition.

The notice that’s being referred to is the one below.

Steward Bank Notice

 

Just because some people didn’t get the SMS or email notification or didn’t go to a branch to be told that doesn’t mean that Steward Bank didn’t try to notify people as I had assumed in the previous article. Dr Mambondiani even acknowledges that when he says that they have a large customer base and it may not always be possible to reach everyone at the same time.

However, to increase the chances of everyone being notified, Steward Bank could have posted the notice on social media as some who didn’t get the SMS notification could have seen the notice there.

6 comments

  1. Clement Siby

    There will always be someone who doesn’t get to see the notification regardless. This complaint is much ado about nothing really.

  2. john s remba

    Good morning”

    I never got that message

  3. WeZaka

    it is not the only bank that has gone paperless, is it because someone at techzim banks with Stewart it become news.

    I hope they have tablets like they did in one bank where client walk-in and do online transactions.

  4. DELTA FORCE ONE

    How come I always receive my bank statement or any transaction to my account yet I don’t get notifications about change of service conditions? I will maintain that Steward bank is not doing enough. They are missing the point somewhere. If anyone thinks people complaining about notifications about changes in contracts is “much ado about nothing” maybe they are privileged. They never suffer from the inconveniences these things cause

  5. Pele Panganai

    It’s not true that you notified customers, I have been to Eastgate branch several times from the said dates until yesterday but didn’t see any notification. The only thing I noticed is the time difference between your pledge of 10 minutes and the actual time one has to wait. If you don’t admit that your service delivery system is facing challenges, then we have a problem. When Zim switch failed, money went missing from my account, rectifying it requires a branch manager or someone at that level but every time I attempted, the manager will not be available. He/she could not be reached from your customer care center, I was told that the branch was not picking and I should wait for a call from them once my query was rectified. I been told this several times from the 26th of September.

  6. Anthony

    Never got any email or SMS notifying that – i am getting the transaction notifications so its not a matter of them not having correct contact details – i can’t call them a real bank anymore 🙁

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