#Commercial INNBUCKS DISRUPTS ATM ACCESS WITH ZIMSWITCH INTEROPERABILITY Following a successful pilot phase, InnBucks is taking its ATM proposition nationwide, bringing a growing network of ATMs closer to customers and signaling a bold new chapter in Zimbabwe’s financial services landscape. But while the expanding footprint is significant, the real disruption lies in what customers can now do with the network. InnBucks has achieved ZIMSWITCH interoperability certification, enabling ZIMSWITCH cardholders to transact and withdraw cash from InnBucks ATMs. In simple terms, customers no longer look specifically for an ATM belonging to their own bank. If they hold a participating ZIMSWITCH card, an InnBucks ATM can now become another convenient point from which they can access their money. For customers, this means more choice, greater access and increased convenience. A customer can bank with one financial institution and still use an InnBucks ATM to withdraw cash using their ZIMSWITCH card. As the InnBucks ATM footprint expands across the country, the ambition is to put cash access closer to where customers live, work, shop and transact. The development marks a significant evolution of the InnBucks proposition. Known for making financial transactions every day accessible through its digital wallet, InnBucks is now extending that accessibility into physical financial infrastructure, creating a connected ecosystem where customers can move more easily between digital payments, cards and cash. The ATMs themselves are powered by modern technology designed to deliver secure, reliable and intuitive customer experience. From transaction processing and cash dispensing to the customer interface, the technology is designed to make accessing money simple, fast and convenient. The innovation, however, goes beyond the machine itself. It is the connectivity behind the ATM that allows InnBucks to become part of a broader financial services ecosystem. The successful pilot phase allowed InnBucks to test and refine the proposition before expanding the network nationwide. With the rollout now underway, customers can expect to see InnBucks ATMs increasingly positioned in convenient, high-traffic locations, bringing another option for accessing cash closer to them. What makes this development particularly significant is that InnBucks is not simply building an ATM network for its own customers. Through ZIMSWITCH interoperability, its infrastructure can now serve cardholders across participating financial institutions. This transforms the InnBucks ATM from a channel associated primarily with the InnBucks ecosystem into an additional access point within Zimbabwe’s wider financial services network. For the financial services sector, the implications are much bigger. InnBucks is challenging traditional boundaries around ATM access by combining a growing physical footprint with interoperability, creating infrastructure that can serve customers beyond a single financial institution. It is a shift towards a more connected and accessible financial services environment — one where convenience is not simply determined by where a customer banks, but by how easily they can access and use their money. And that is the bigger InnBucks ambition, to make financial services more accessible, more connected and closer to the customer.

🔴Bard Santner Microfinance Bank, which has ambitions of becoming the first diaspora-focused financial institution of its kind in the country to tap into the deep multi-billion-dollar remittance market, has unveiled a multidisciplinary board of directors, who have held senior roles at some of the world’s best known banks, audit firms and financial regulators.

Former HSBC, KPMG and PwC executives join Bard Santner Bank board AFTER its launch last week amid a blaze of publicity, Bard Santner Microfinance Bank, which has ambitions of becoming the first diaspora-focused financial institution of its kind in the country to tap into the deep multi-billion-dollar remittance market, has unveiled a multidisciplinary board of directors, who have held senior roles at some of the world’s best known banks, audit firms and financial regulators. The board aims to provide robust corporate governance oversight and secure depositors' funds in a market where people have lost hundreds of millions of dollars due to mismanagement, corporate governance failures and devastating cycles of economic meltdown and hyperinflation. Strong corporate governance and strict protection of depositors' funds are vital in the Zimbabwean financial market against a backdrop of a checkered history of systemic banking crises, owner-manager abuses, and a fragile macroeconomic environment affecting different institutions, big, medium or small. Size and scale of the institution no longer matter the most. Agility, utility, and profitability are the true north stars of modern fintech — shifting the focus entirely away from traditional banking's reliance on sheer size and scale. While legacy banks historically won by having the largest balance sheets and the most physical branches, the digital era has levelled the playing field. Survival and dominance now belong to the nimble, not behemoths. The 13-member board, which includes executive, non-executive and independent directors, is drawn from five different countries in the region and overseas, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mauritius, India and the United Kingdom. It includes Vinod Bussawah (chairman) and independent directors: Roger Bennett, Scott Trimble, Brad Shorkend, Peter Wood, Dr Roshan Boodhoo, Niazi Hoolash, and Monika Bhatt. Its non-executive directors are Senziwani Sikhosana, Tatenda Hungwe, Lucia Chingwaru, whilw executive directors entail Ngonidzashe Chikowore (Managing Director) and Givemore Gomo (Finance Director). The board has financial heavyweights on it, experienced directors and regulators with great track records. Bussawah, a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants with more than 30 years in finance and governance, chairs the board. He already presides over audit committees of two listed companies. There is Boodhoo, former chief executive of the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius and former deputy CEO of SBM Group, one of the largest banking groups on the Island nation. He sits on the board of a NASDAQ-listed company. Scott Trimble, 30 years in senior and board-level roles at HSBC, HBOS, Grant Thornton, Moore Global and the Isle of Man financial regulator, brings a wealth of experience and leadership. He was named UK Anti-Money Laundering Advisor of the Year in 2022 and 2023. Forty years in banking and trust services, including Lloyds Bank, Canada Trust and CIBC, and founder of Fortress Management Services in the Isle of Man, Roger Bennett is is also a top-notch professional. Former Associate Director at KPMG and Senior Manager at PwC Niazi Hoolash has led central bank mandated restructurings of commercial banks and is a key member. Brad Shorkend is an adjunct faculty member at the Gordon Institute of Business Science and Duke Corporate Education, and adviser to leadership teams across Europe, the United States, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, Monika Bhatt is Company Secretary in practice, specialising in corporate law and governance. These world-class directors sit alongside Zimbabwean bankers with decades of experience in the local market, including Peter Wood, former Chairman of BancABC Zimbabwe. Bard Santner Inc. pioneers Sikhosana, Hungwe and Chingwaru, who are non-executive directors, will steer the ship as custodians of the vision and strategy, while Chikowore and Gomo provide management skills and ensure profitability.