Unity finance disburses over 5,000 uni-cards

Unity Finance has issued over 5,000 visa pre-paid Unicards since the card was introduced last year.

Unity Finance Zambia Marketing Manager Gabriel Chansa said the company was impressed with the public response to get the card which has seen about 90 per cent penetration on the market, especially in rural areas.

Unity Finance launched the Unicard in October last year in partnership with the United Bank of Africa (UBA). It is the first of its kind by a non-bank financial institution in Zambia and it offers clients access to the visa electron system which operates in over 150 countries with a network of over 27 million outlets.

Mr. Chansa said the visa pre-paid card has received tremendous support especially in the agriculture and mining sectors where most farmers and mining owners are using it for their salary payments, day to day transactions and delivery of service.

He told ZANIS in an interview today that the card, which has no limit, has made loan disbursements easier to manage as clients in rural areas do not have to physically carry large amounts of money.

Mr. Chansa said there was a lot of interest by farmers to use the card because it allows them to conduct day to day electronic transactions such as point of sale and online purchases, ATM withdrawals and card to card money transfers.

He explained that the card was safe for online purchases as it requires a user name and password which is only kept by the owner of the card.

Mr. Chansa said the company would continue to offer innovative ways of banking for citizens in rural areas in line with government efforts of increasing access to financial services to all Zambians.