Access Finance develops product to facilitate offshore payments

REGISTERED bureaux de change and money transfer agent Access Finance has developed a payments product to facilitate global payments from Zimbabwe.

The firm, which already has a domestic remittances network spanning the whole country, has developed a product for import payments across the globe.

Access Finance’s business development manager Mildret Kujinga said the finance solutions firm sought to plug the inconvenience clients had experienced over the past five years by failing to settle international obligations.

“Most Zimbabweans have been struggling to make payments outside the country. We have had students stranded outside the country, not because parents did not have the money to honour their obligations, but simply because parents could not find convenient ways of making these payments,” she said.

“Similarly, individuals have failed to sit for crucial examinations because they had failed to make payments to treasury bodies like the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and others.”

She said customers can now process these payments through them instantly.

Access Finance’s outbound remittances business enables customers to execute school and university fees payments, professional body subscriptions, import payments, medical bills and any other offshore payments that one may need to settle.

“There have been situations where clients needed to settle medical bills, say in India, but then had to watch loved ones waste away because there was simply no way of settling these bills,” Kujinga said.

“This will not happen again, as long as we can help it. Access will ensure these payments are made seamlessly.”

She said the firm has proven capacity to facilitate payments across the world.

“We are licensed in the United Kingdom and South Africa. We are not limited to Zimbabwe alone, we are global,” Kujiga added.

“We also do this locally. For instance, the parent is sitting on Zimdollars and wants to pay in United States dollars or viceversa. Or they want to liquidate their nostro and still make payments. We are the go-to-people because we will process all these payments without a hustle.”

The company said it was equipped to do any currency switch ranging from South African rands to US dollars, pounds, euro and vice-versa. Kujinga said Access Forex also had inhouse treasury solutions.

“For anything to do with forex, we are the go-to people. So this means that even if you are travelling to any part of the world, you can visit us and we will switch the currencies for you without any hustle,” she said.

The announcement by Access Finance comes as the central bank announced in the 2020 midterm monetary statement that it had raised the exchange rate spread to 5%, from 3,5%, above the forex auction rate for bureaux de changes.