Standard Chartered Bank, one of the country’s biggest and oldest financial institutions, has said it will close its Gweru branch next month and transfer the city’s accounts to Bulawayo.
In a statement, the bank’s Head, Retail Banking Valeta Mthimkhulu, said Standard Chartered Bank will close its Gweru branch on October 1 after it noticed that clients now preferred to transact digitally than visit a physical bank.
The bank said the closure of the branch was also in alignment with global banking trends, where the use mobile and digital banking was becoming dominant.
“We have also noted that our clients are preferring to transact more digitally, including on our recently launched SC Mobile App, our ATMs as well as our online and mobile banking,” Mthimkulu said.
“Following on the above, and to align with global standards, we have re-looked our distribution of network and wish to advise that with effect from the 1st of October 2019 we will be closing Gweru Branch and all accounts will be domiciled at Bulawayo branch.”
The bank said the account transfers to Bulawayo will not affect its Gweru clients, but allow them to relate to a particular branch while being able do transactions at any branch.
“Whilst branch domiciliation allows you to relate to a particular branch, you have always been able to do your transactions at any branch and on our digital platforms,” Mthimkhulu said.
Furthermore, the bank said that the SC Mobile App can be downloaded by all clients, and this offered many services.
“Our new digital bank which can be assessed through the SC Mobile App can be downloaded from Google play store or Apple App store and has over 70 banking services for your 24/7 transaction and service convenience such as card replacement and blocking, Ecocash registration, statements requests and change of personal details amongst others,” Mthimkhulu said.
The bank did not say, however, what the fate of the Gweru branch employees will be.
The Times-New Ziana
