Stanbic Zambia Launches POS; when more tech meets banking
Last night at an event at Southern Sun Lusaka, Stanbic Bank Zambia gladly rolled out their Point of Sale (POS) services to Lusaka, Livingstone and the Copperbelt provinces. Speaking at the event were the bank’s Head of Corporate and Investment Banking, Mr. Paul Richards, and the Head of Personal and Business Banking, Ms. Mukwandi Chibesakunda.
The aim of this move was to increase accessibility to consumer’s funds from anywhere a Stanbic POS is found and allow for transactions to occur immediately, reducing the need to have to walk into a bank or go to an ATM machine to withdraw cash. No more trying to jump the queue!
If you’re worried about what cards work with this service or network failures happening while you make a payment, Mr Richards consolation was when he said, “Our devices are Europay Mastercard and Visa (EMV) compliant, providing both consumers and especially merchants a wide scope of revenue streams from the consumers they serve. Concerns about reliability have been addressed through a system that connects the POS machines to multiple networks including the Internet, WiFi and GPRS. Another feature that ensures continuity in transactions is the dual-SIM that our machines are embedded with. This helps to make sure that transactions are not vulnerable to poor signals during peak hours of business.”
So no botched services there. You don’t have to leave your trolley with all your shopping in a store because your card won’t work and go collect money from a bank or ATM so you can come back and make a payment, defeating the entire purpose of a POS.
This move comes to meet demands by consumers who want to make faster payments without using physical cash. Ms Chibesakunda acknowledged this saying, “Consumers must benefit from systems that are secure and convenient, offering a seamless experience between living their lives and transacting for goods and services. Through the unveiling of our POS service, we trust that as a Bank we have responded adequately to the needs of the consumer and businesses for transactions that are built of convenience, security and reliability.”
This is also great for the business owners themselves who will have these POS services. They don’t have to deal with large amounts of cash or worry about it being stolen. It will also help with their financial analysis as they can see their records online (It’s good to see an end to the finger-licking of money as they count their earnings at the end of the day).
We’re totally with you on this one, Stanbic. Other banks should follow suit if they haven’t. Technology is evolving in all industries and all we have to do is embrace it and understand and maximize its potential for pushing the entire economy’s progress further. So swipe away!
I’m sad I missed the cocktails though.
Image Credit: ISITC
