Nampula province continues to make significant progress in access to financial services, with 58.2 per cent of the city’s adult population currently having a bank account – a rate that far exceeds the national average of 32.9 per cent and the provincial average of 15.7 per cent.
The figure was announced by the director of the BoM branch in Nampula, Arlindo Lombe, during the reopening ceremony of the Millennium bim branch in the city centre. According to Lombe, the growth in financial inclusion is the result of a strategy aimed at expanding the banking network and introducing technological solutions that bring financial services closer to the population.
The province currently has 79 bank branches spread across 21 of its 23 districts, with the installation of branches in the remaining two districts planned in the short term. This almost total coverage represents an important step towards democratising access to the formal financial system.
Lombe emphasised that access to banking services goes beyond the mere commercial sphere and is also a tool for promoting citizenship, stimulating socio-economic development and strengthening financial inclusion. ‘We encourage economic agents and the public to maximise the use of the facilities made available, because channelling savings to banks is an essential contribution to the growth of the economy,’ he said.
During the same event, the governor of the province, Eduardo Abdula, stressed the importance of modernising banking services, underlining that the new branch concept now reopened – already present in Maputo, Inhambane and Zambézia – is geared towards personalised, efficient service and supported by state-of-the-art technology.
The reopened banking unit includes automatic queue management systems, self-banking areas, exclusive counters for companies and a digital price list, promoting transparency and sustainability. These elements aim not only to improve the customer experience, but also to consolidate trust in the financial sector.
The chairman of bim’s executive committee, Rui Pedro, recalled that this inauguration coincides with 30 years of the bank’s presence in the Mozambican market, emphasising the institution’s commitment to innovation and inclusion.
The expansion of the banking network and the digitalisation of services in Nampula thus reinforce the positive growth trend in financial inclusion, representing a significant step towards building a more robust and accessible economic system.
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