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Business Reporter
GETBUCKS Financial Services will soon start offering deposit taking services to the market following the issuance of a deposit-taking microfinance licence by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

The Registrar of Microfinanciers, a division under the central bank announced in a notice published yesterday that it had licensed Getbucks Financial Services and African Century Limited.

“It is hereby notified that the following institutions (African Century Limited and Getbucks Financial Services) have been licensed and authorised to conduct Deposit-Taking Microfinance business in terms of the Microfinance Act (Chapter 24:29), with effect from this January 6,” the notice said.

GetBucks chief finance officer Mr Paul Soko said the financial services company is ready to roll out the new services.

“We are preparing to start offering the services to the public soon,” said Mr Soko.

GetBucks last month said it is targeting over one million bankable customers in the financial technology services sector as the financial services company sees scope for growth.

The financial technology services provider is currently sitting on just over 20 000 customers and hopes to take up the lion’s share of the estimated over one million bankable but untapped market.

“It gives us a wider range of services to an unaddressed market. This is thumbs up to the work that we have done so far. Because of our target market it will help in our efforts for financial inclusion to the unbanked market,” Mr Soko said.

GetBucks is currently preparing for listing on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange this month via an Initial Public Offer through which it aims to attract focused and permanent capital.

The company hopes to increase access to more appropriate risk-adjusted cost of capital (debt and equity) than GetBucks has been able to obtain as a private company. GetBucks’ IPO, which is expected to raise $3,2 million through offering 93 567 251 shares for the public to subscribe, opened on the first week of December last year. The company sees growth to be underpinned by new innovative products such as the signing of companies as a strategy to reach employees a growing loan book.

Its loan book increased 88 percent this year to $11 600 480 as at the end of June. The loan book grew by 389 percent last year.

GetBucks believes that its strategy for salary-based loans whose repayment is guaranteed as it is deducted at source will help the company’s growth trajectory.

The “fintech” company that embraces technology as a means to provide financial products and services will also seek to milk its international exposure to source for reasonably priced capital for onward lending to the local market. GetBucks is owned 55 percent by Mauritius-registered GetBucks Limited and 34,06 percent by local firm Brainworks Capital with pension funds holding the remaining shareholding.