BancABC to start enlisting agents for their City Hopper service

It seems things are going on well for BancABC’s City Hopper local remittance service. The bank has announced that it will soon be enlisting agents across the country in a bid to expand its reach beyond the current setup where only BancABC and Pick N Pay are involved.

We realise for this service to be relevant it has got to be accessible so we are roping in agents who are going to provide the service for us.

We have identified a lot of agents who are in areas where we are not represented and they will provide the service.

BancABC’s Hope Marere speaking to Newsday’s Heart and Soul

The service was launched last year in the wake of the pandemic which made it hard for people to do intercity travel. BancABC realised that there was a vacuum in the market. Not only could people no longer use intercity buses to send money to their loved ones across the country, the traditional player in that field Ecocash was no longer offering this service.

While Ecocash was formed several years ago to solve the local remittance problem, their ability to do so was severely compromised when the RBZ banned Ecocash agents and cashouts. It’s kind of ironic that Ecocash, OneMoney and Telecash are no longer able to offer this service. At least not easily.

Despite a recent hike in fees to 3%, City Hopper is still far cheaper than the competition. Mukuru charges a flat 7% to send money across the country. City Hopper is also safer than informal alternatives where for example you send money using a runner. Their biggest drawback has been their reach which they now seem intent on solving using agents.