FBC allowing Civil Servants to convert US$75 allowance via WhatsApp and email

The government some time ago announced that it was going to be giving it’s employees an allowance of US$75 a month. The allowance besides being insufficient was made worse by the news that this money was not going to come to civil servants in hard currency but will be converted to local currency at the prevailing rate.

This meant that whenever this money made it’s way to the accounts of Civil Servants, they would have to go to their bank to have the funds converted into local currency. Civil Servants had to travel to various branches and stand in queues in order to liquidate their money.

It seems as though some institutions have seen the plight of the Civil Servants. FBC announced in a tweet said that they have made facilities available for Civil Servants to liquidate their allowance over WhatsApp and email.

WhatsApp and e-mail are a progressive approach to this problem. A good number of Zimbabweans communicate over the WhatsApp and this covers quite a number of people. But on the other hand, data and bundle prices are going through the roof and there may be instances where those avenues may be inaccessible.

A service that Stanbic has employed, which I think should be considered by other banks, is the liquidation of these funds through USSD. Even if an individual is without a bundle then they are able to convert their allowance at any time. USSD transactions are also a lot quicker than making requests over email or on WhatsApp.