Mozambique’s largest commercial bank, the Millennium BIM, signed a memorandum of understanding in Maputo on Friday with the Post Office, under which the post office will act as an agent for the bank and offer financial services t its branches throughout the country.
The agreement, signed by the chairperson of the Millennium-BIM, Rui Fonseca, and the chairperson of the Post Office, Valdemar Jessen, in the presence of the Minister of Transport and communications, Carlos Mesquita, is intended to extend banking services to areas where there are no bank branches.
It will enable the Post Office to reopen branches which were closed during the war of destabilization waged by the apartheid-backed Renamo rebels. The Post Office has 120 branches scattered throughout the country, but only 30 are currently in use.
“We think this partnership between the two companies is strategic and intelligent”, declared Mesquita.
He thanked the bank for its commitment to overhauling the post office branches, and to the vision of financial inclusion stressed by the Bank of Mozambique.
Fonseca said he believed the partnership would bring benefits to both sides. BIM would gain through expanding its financial network, while the Post Office would once again be able to make use of assets which have been abandoned for many years.
The memorandum of understanding forms part of the business plan of the Post Office for the 2015-2019 period.
Source: AllAfrica
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