JSE Securities Exchange-listed Global Technology has completed implementation of the Globus banking suite of software at Royal Bank of Zimbabwe, the newest addition to Zimbabwe`s financial services market.
The contract, worth $2 million, or more than R20 million at the prevailing exchange rate, was won late last year against four international competitors, and embraced software, consulting and training. Royal Bank has gone live and is trading through its head office in Harare.
Royal Bank was formed to address an identified gap in the market for mid- to high-net worth customers, targeting them specifically with superior service, says CEO Jeffery Mzwimbi.
"We have launched the bank at a fortuitous time, one when technology correctly applied can provide a real competitive advantage," says Mzwimbi.
"The ability to deliver product and services through the multiple channels today`s technology affords cannot be over-stressed. Add to that the superior customer management capabilities and lower cost-to-income ratios new systems can deliver, and you can see why we are confident of gaining 15% market share in our first 12 months."
The bank bought the retail banking, treasury, trade finance, automated teller machine (ATM) and retail Globus banking modules from Global Technology, which has a 15% stake in Swiss-listed Temenos, developer of Globus. The suite has been delivered on an IBM AIX platform, running on the IBM uniVerse database, with an initial 75-user licence, which is expected to grow into the hundreds as the bank meets its growth targets.
"After five months of rigorous evaluation, we chose Globus for a number of reasons," says Mzwimbi. "Firstly, we wanted a customer-centric rather than product-centric system, and Globus fits this requirement. Secondly, it was highly customisable: we began with a shell, and could structure it just the way we wanted.
"As a consequence, our clients can request a card and be granted one immediately; no longer do they have to come back a week later. This is all part of our goal of stress-free banking. A customer-centric system such as Globus is vital in supporting this objective."
The bank has been capitalised to the extent of Z$500 million, a significant amount of which has gone into technology and training of staff. The bank will initially operate out of the Harare head office, but aims to have 12 branches in place by year-end.
Driving the bank is a management team of vastly experienced banking practitioners, averaging 25 years in banking, who have seen the gap in the market and are ready to exploit it.
"We have taken note of banking best practices in the US, UK, SA and elsewhere, and found Globus best supported these best practices," notes Mzwimbi.
As a new-style bank, Royal Bank will aim to service its customers through multiple alternative channels, reducing traffic in physical outlets - in effect substituting clicks for bricks-and-mortar.
"Our banks currently do business when it suits them, closing at 3pm," comments Mzwimbi. "This will help us reduce overhead and provide services that are not time-bound."
"This was a challenging project, being a start-up bank, where we had to design all the processes from scratch," comments Pat Moffett, marketing and strategy director at Global Technology. "Being a greenfield project, it stretched our project management team to the fullest extent, but they pulled through, due in no small part to the management buy-in from the bank, and the exceptional leadership shown by Jeffery Mzwimbi."
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