In a desperate bid to stem the onslaught that has besieged their service, Ecocash Zimbabwe has launched a promotion that seeks to reward those who perform Bank to Wallet transactions. This promotion is probably aimed at minimising the effects of current Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe FIU limitations that has seen a lot of transactions including Agent to Agent and Bulk to Many transactions being banned outright or limited.

It’s easy to see what is happening here in terms of what Ecocash wants to achieve. In recent times the platform has benefited from having money kept in the Ecocash system. The platform now makes money from activities such as merchant payments, bill payments as well as other transactions. More profit is made when more money is moving withing the system than when it exits say to a bank account.

The restrictions by the RBZ makes it hard for money to get into the Ecocash system. Illegal foreign currency traders would simply inject millions into the Ecocash system through a few transactions now that is near impossible to do unless you are a registered foreign currency trader. In addition banks have developed their own systems that compete with Ecocash in areas such as bill payments and ZESA tokens. This means people really have little incentive to do a bank to wallet transfer transfer.

The decline of Ecocash

There can be no doubt about it, the Ecocash platform has grown to a size that it’s creators probably never dreamt of even in their most cheery outlooks. That is thanks in part due to the economic failings that gave us cash shortages and in recent years the foreign currency black market. From the onset, the black market made ample use of the platform with illegal traders hiring an agent and merchant lines to ply their trade.

Now the tide is beginning to turn. Some would argue it all began with the bungled upgrade from last year. The nightmare upgrade brought to the fore the fact that Ecocash was a monopoly that posed significant risks to the whole economy if it were to somehow failed. Fights with the government have now led to the current restrictions and Ecocash might be sensing vulnerability and just want to make sure they have no chinks in their armour especially as OneMoney gains ground.