Increasingly, bank account holders of Cogebanque Plc are adopting and using debit, credit and prepaid cards in day-to-day transactions and payment. A number of clients have even won prizes for usage of debit, credit and prepaid cards courtesy of the Transact & Win with Cogebanque Mastercard campaign dubbed “Biroroshye Hamwe na Cogebanque Mastercard”. The campaign launched in December 2020 whereby Mastercard debit, credit and prepaid card; customers who transact frequently using these products, stand a chance to win various prizes. “Unlike other promotional campaigns done in the past, as Cogebanque Plc through our agency we thought it prudent to reward our customers who had been using our Mastercard services before we even rolled out this campaign. Our thinking was that we should fill in the gap for our customers who have been loyal even through these hard times of the pandemic,” says Antoine Iyamuremye the Head of Marketing and Product development at Cogebanque. He added: “We appreciate their loyalty especially since we asked the public to use cashless means to transact and buy goods and services. It was therefore only fair to start a fresh campaign with rewarding the lucky ones who responded to our call. We offered cash prizes at the inauguration of “Biroroshye Hamwe Na Cogebanque Mastercard” to enable them recapitalize their businesses,” Throughout the campaign period customers have won many instant or weekly prizes such as; cash, shopping vouchers, fuel vouchers, laptops, smartphones, airtime and home appliances among others. Winners of the prizes say that they have accrued multiple benefits from use of debit, credit and prepaid cards including convenience of payments. Bosco Habimana, a Cogebanque client who was among those feted from the campaign said that beyond winning prizes, use of cards has had multiple benefits including reduced cash handling and easy payments. Habimana said that the payment mode is widely accepted across the country by service providers and merchant outlets. He added that digital payments also guarantee more security and avoid unnecessary expenditure compared to physical cash handling. Sandrine Uwamariya, another frequent Mastercard debit card user said that it has also allowed her to track her expenditures which is not always possible when handling physical cash. Uwamariya said that the payment model came in handy during the pandemic as members of the public were urged to avoid cash handling to reduce chances of transmission of Covid-19. Last week, the Central Bank reported increased uptake and usage of electronic payment channels such as mobile banking, internet banking as well as card-based payment services in 2020. Cogebanque has 28 branches, over 600 agents, and 36 ATMs across the country. These are supported by Mobile banking (USSD on *505# and Mobile App “Coge mBank”), Cards (Mastercards & Smart cash) and internet banking delivery channels accessible through different media.
