THE Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has registered four new microfinance institutions (MFIs) for the second quarter of the year, as it pushes the financial inclusion thrust.
BY TARISAI MANDIZHA
This brings the number of registered MFIs to 164 as at June 30 2016.
In a statement last week, RBZ said: “During the period April to June 2016, the registrar of micro financiers registered the following additional institutions Nurture Finance, Junior Marima, Gryton Capital and Realty Microfinance. “This brings the number of institutions authorised to conduct business of providing loans in terms of microfinance Act Chapter 24:29 to 164 as at June 30 2016.”
According to the 2016 monetary policy statement, Zimbabwe’s MFIs’ total loans registered a 14,2% growth to $173,3 million between September 2014 and September 2015.
Three deposit taking MFIs — Getbucks Financial Services Ltd, African Century Leasing Company and Collarhedge Finance (Private) Ltd were licensed in the last quarter of 2015.
In his 2016 monetary policy statement, RBZ governor John Mangudya said the entrance of more players in the financial sector bodes well for its efforts to promote the deepening of financial markets at a time the banking sector’s capitalisation levels continued to improve from $811,2m as at December 31 2014 to $982,5m as at December 31 2015.
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He said the banking sector remained profitable, with a reported aggregate net profit of $127,47m for the year ended December 31 2015.
A total of 15 out of 18 operating banking institutions recorded profits.
Mangudya said total loans in issue by MFIs also went up to average $1,18m per MFI from $1,12m per institution the previous year.
The average loan amounts went up from $589,41 for the 257 loans that were issued as at September 2014 to $773,47 for the 224 055 loans that were issued as at September 2015.
The number of people doing business with MFIs have, however, diminished steadily between September 2014 and September 2015, from 220 357 clients to 198 378.
Mangudya said micro-finance was, by nature, targeted at low-income households and micro, small and medium enterprises at the bottom of the pyramid.
