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The initiative is designed to provide the local Chinese community with smoother access to banking services and deal with any financial challenges they may face.
ECOBANK Zimbabwe (Ecobank) has established a Chinese desk aimed at facilitating business interactions between the bank and the local Chinese community.
The new initiative comes as Zimbabwe currently has a large Chinese community living in the country who own and operate a significant number of businesses.
The initiative is designed to provide the local Chinese community with smoother access to banking services and deal with any financial challenges they may face.
Speaking to NewsDay Business on the sidelines of the Chinese Meet and Great Brunch event held at Tongfu Restaurant in Belgravia, Harare last Friday, Ecobank chairperson Emmanuel Gwatidzo emphasised the bank’s commitment to the local Chinese community.
“We want to see and explore what additional products we can give them, what additional services we can do for them. Because certainly it is now a big segment of our economy, and us as Ecobank, we want to make sure that we are ahead in terms of servicing that market segment,” he said.
“So, we have a Chinese desk that is now based at Borrowdale Branch. We have staff that is able to speak in Mandarin, so that our Chinese customers are able to get the help that they need very quickly. We also have an SME [small and medium enterprises] desk, which is non-racial.”
Gwatidzo highlighted the significance of establishing relationships with the local Chinese business community.
“So, first of all, what we have here is a commemoration of our Chinese business customers, the relationships we have with our Chinese customers,” the Ecobank chair said.
“I think, as you can see, the country has opened up for foreign direct investment, and a good chunk of that is coming from our Chinese friends.”
He said a lot of Chinese and Zimbabwean nationals were travelling between their two respective countries, conducting business activities that needed banking services.
China Zimbabwe Exchange Centre chief executive officer Steve Ke Zhao expressed gratitude on the launch of Chinese desk by Ecobank.
“They [Ecobank] actually introduced their new product into the Chinese community. They also set up the Chinese desk to make the Chinese companies in Zimbabwe, working with the bank, work more comfortably and smoothly because of the language barrier,” he said.
“So that’s all about it. Since 2010, when Ecobank came to Zimbabwe, they have supported a lot for the Zimbabwe business community, not only for the Chinese community.
“In terms of import and export, they have been facilitating for people to get forex and doing the transfers. So, they are quite helpful for the community. As for the Chinese community, we are very appreciative for the service they provide to us.”
He said the local Chinese community would continue to work with them.
“So, actually, we are having a lot of critical problems for the businesspeople. But Ecobank, they opened up the Chinese yuan system so we can even use yuan to do the international trade payment now. This makes it more convenient,” Zhao said.
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