BPR Bank and MVend Limited, a financial tech company have teamed up to introduce Gwiza App, a ‘cutting-edge digital savings wallet’ tailored to deliver financial services to the unbanked and underbanked market segments.

Gwiza digitizes savings groups and empowers members with a transferable financial track record as a way of revolutionizing the way customers manage their finances in the digital age.

According to Innocent Ntwali, the Head of Retail Banking at BPR Bank, the collaboration blends BPR Banks’ reliability with MVend’s fintech expertise, offering customers a secure and seamless digital banking experience where the Gwiza digital savings wallet has been integrated into the BPR bank system.

The partnership is expected to help deepen savings culture and offer customers with the best of banking combined with modern financial tech services.

Customers in the digital savings groups can access funds through BPR branches and digital channels like agents, ATMs and mobile banking for cash-in and cash-out services.

This marks a new era of financial convenience as traditional community savings and loans make way for a best-in-class digital financial ecosystem.

"BPR Bank is excited to partner with MVend which is a fintech company that has developed a solution for saving groups. BPR has been able to integrate with this fintech to enable them keep money in the bank; and also, additional services that MVend could not give that the bank will give, enabling many people to save. We will be able to monitor their savings automatically deposited in the bank in real time,” Ntwali said.

He said this is a timely partnership because consumers of financial services are constantly seeking innovative ways to save, borrow and transact.

"We believe this will create substantial usage of financial services for both MVend and BPR Bank. We are targeting any saving group countrywide that has a culture of saving together because we have a solution to them.

There are other services. We will be able to lend them based on the way they are saving to run their projects and also enable the transaction as they will be able to send money, pay bills, services and goods. It is a platform that will enable financial inclusion in the country,” added Ntwali.

Bill payments are simplified with Gwiza app in one place including electricity, airtime top up, TV subscription and much more.

Gwiza app also brings a digital piggybank and allows group and individual savings.

Normally a piggybank is a container in the shape of a pig, with a narrow opening in the top for putting coins in, used by children or other people to save money and Gwiza app has digitized this form of saving

Bobson Rugambwa, the CEO of MVend Ltd, said that the partnership enables the customers that use Gwiza platform to be able to save and also earn interest rates on their savings through BPR Bank.

Both customers with a feature and smartphone can use the Gwiza app to create a savings account and get a code to be used when they want to save.

They can transact money from MTN or Airtel wallets and save it on Gwiza wallet or use BPR branches or its agents’ network.

If the customers want a loan from the digital saving groups, they also receive it through the Gwiza platform and withdraw it via agents or prefer to spend it through cashless payment.

"We are also mulling to help digital savings groups members access micro-loans through BPR Bank. Primary targets are people who are in savings groups because they usually have limited funds from which they can borrow. We can now build a lending product for them through BPR,” he said.

Gwiza wallet is currently being used by about 4,000 digital saving and lending groups with over 70,000 members in 15 districts.