Efforts by government and stakeholders geared at promoting a cashless culture among Rwandans have been boosted following the launch of a range of digital solutions by Equity Bank. The digital solutions will provide users an easy, comprehensive, and secure banking experience, according to the lender.

The Eazzy Banking range of solutions, according to Equity Bank managing director, Hannington Namara, will give Rwandans more convenience and control of their financial lives by saving them time and costs while carrying out transactions.

Namara said the lender seeks to support the government’s agenda of making Rwanda a digital hub by the year 2020, with ICT-driven services at the heart of all sectors of the economy.

"We are investing in these digital solutions to bring banking services closer to the people by expanding to the unbanked masses as well as improve financial service delivery. The EazzyBanking suite of products caters for the increasing preference by Rwandans for self-service channels,” he added.

Challenge of poor connectivity

Meanwhile, customers sighted poor connectivity as one of the major bottlenecks affecting use of digital products.

Nandine Irakoze, an entrepreneur in Nyamirambo, said more resources should be invested in the development of infrastructure to improve connectivity and make digital products attractive.

She added that financial institutions and telecom firms need to reduce user charges to make the products more affordable.

How Eazzy Banking solutions work

The Eazzy Banking suite of products include the EazzyBanking app, a global financial app that directly integrates with telecom services, allowing customers to open accounts, send money and even make payments using their mobile phones anywhere, anytime.

Downloadable on both Android and iOS-enabled devices, the EazzyBanking App is easy to activate and provides a host of key service offerings, ranging from opening of accounts, sending money to bank accounts or mobile wallets, applying and repaying loans, and utility bills, among others.

Its EazzyNet retail internet portal enables customers to manage their bank accounts, while the EazzyPay interoperable payment platform allows one to pay for bills such as monthly TV subscriptions, as well as pay for goods and services at registered merchant outlets.

The system also boasts of a mobile loan product known as EazzyLoan and a cash and liquidity management solution for SMEs, corporate firms, big organisations and institutions called EazzyBiz.

About a fortnight ago, the central bank launched a campaign to encourage the business community to embrace electronic payment solutions and other sectors as part of government efforts geared at developing a cashless society.

The drive is one of the many efforts aimed at promoting financial technology services that support the move toward a cashless economy.

According central bank figures, the number of transactions through POS transactions increased by 94 per cent from 270,084 to 523,473 in volume and 98 per cent in value in the first six months of the year, from Rwf16 billion to Rwf32 billion.

Mobile financial service users rose to 3.37 million from 2.98 million over the reporting period.