FDH Bank attests that ’Usampatse Timpatsa!’ promotion indeed inculcating culture of cashless society

Lorraine Chikhula (centre) briefing the media before the draw

* Lucky customers are being rewarded with state-of-the-art PlayStation 5 (1), Iphone 14 Pro Max (2) while 12 are receiving K50,000 cash straight into their accounts

* In this digital era, customers need not visit banking halls for their immediate business deals

* Thus encouraged them to continue with transact digitally even after the promotion on October 31

By Duncan Mlanjira

At the second monthly draw of the FDH Bank’s #Usampatse Timpatsa!# promotion, Communications Manager, Lorraine Chikhula said from the large volumes of digital transactions, attests that the culture of cashless society is being inculcated into the Bank’s customers.

Chikhula said the response has been overwhelming since the promotion was launched in June, that encourages customers to transact by sending money to their loved ones or as business transactions to any bank — through FDH 525 mobile; FDH Wallet or FDH Ufulu 525; Mpamba; Airtel Money; as well as cardless withdraws through ATM or at an FDH Agent spread across the country.

Lucky customers from the monthly draws, that concludes on October 31, are being rewarded with state-of-the-art PlayStation 5 (1), Iphone 14 Pro Max (2) while 12 are receiving K50,000 cash straight into their accounts.

The prizes were mooted so that they be used as presents, especially the Iphone 14 Pro Max and PlayStation 5 to customers children, spouses and other loved ones — Usampatse Timpatsa (don’t give them such a present yet, we will on your behalf).

But the winners still are the customer himself who transacted who will identify a beneficiary or might consider to keep the prize for themselves.

Chikhula emphasized that this is a digital era in that customers need not visit banking halls for their immediate business deals and thus encouraged them to continue with transact digitally even after the promotion.

“We still have two more draws and we encourage our valued customers to try out their luck till October 31 when we will conclude the promotion,” she said.

She added that they have ran such promotions before and “just want this to be a culture of using digital platforms because we are a digital bank.”

This was in direct reference to last year’s promotion of Swipe & Dash through which customers who transacted using FDH Bank point of sale (PoS) gadgets for the shopping and purchase of fuel were rewarded after monthly draws.

The lucky winners were then taken back to the supermarkets they purchased their shoppings from and give 60 minutes to dash around the shop with a trolley to pick whatever they needed but not to exceed K300,000.

The Swipe & Dash involved supermarkets such Chipiku Plus, Sana and Build Africa, which drew a tremendous jump in the usage of ATM cards, not just in withdrawing cash but paying for goods and services using their PoS placed in strategic service providers, including filling stations.

The Bank emphasizes that the digital transaction is the modern way of doing business, thus the idea behind the #Usampatse Timpatsa!# promotion.

In 2019, the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) held a digital financial services conference in Mangochi where former Governor Dalitso Kabambe highlighted that the high costs of using cash and cheques include time and money spent accessing a bank branch or an ATM to either deposit or withdraw money — as well as high cost of replacing bank notes.

After the conference that was to impress on financial services stakeholders to accelerate the shift from paper-based payments instruments, RBM took the cashless awareness campaign through the streets of Mangochi.

The awareness campaign started with a march from M’mbaluku led by the members of staff from RBM and various financial service that was spiced by the Malawi Defence Force (MDF) brass band with a car equipped with a public address system in front that had an official announcing the purpose of the march.

The parade ended at St. Augustine 2 Primary School where various banks and non-bank mobile money service providers erected pavilions to market their services.

The financial services providers included FDH Bank, Standard Bank, NBS Bank, Nedbank, National Bank, Ecobank, FINCA, First Capital as well as mobile money companies; TNM and Airtel.