BANK holder, EcoCash Holdings Zimbabwe Limited (EcoCash) is set to rebrand following a major restructuring exercise that saw local entrepreneur Tawanda Nyambirai taking control of the firm which owns Steward Bank.
As reported by our sister paper, Zimbabwe Independent, last week, Steward Bank was formerly known as TN Bank when Econet Wireless Zimbabwe (Econet) acquired full ownership in 2015.
Econet did this by increasing its shareholding from 45% to 100% at the time, reportedly paying more than US$27 million for the stake.
The bank was subsequently rebranded to Steward Bank after trading as TN Bank for about six years.
Now, a decade later, Nyambirai has purchased a 53,3% stake in EcoCash, whose only asset is Steward Bank after Econet reclaimed all the former’s non-banking units last year.
As of the end of last year, EcoCash had listed valuation of US$48,72 million.
The non-banking units that Econet reacquired last year were EcoCash (Private) Limited, VAYA Technologies Zimbabwe (Private) Limited, Econet Insurance (Private) Limited, Econet Life (Private) Limited, MARS Zimbabwe (Private) Limited and Maisha Health Fund (Private) Limited.
“TN [Tawanda Nyambirai] acquired 53,3% of the bank holding company of which 25% was already held in line with Banking Act and Regulations and the remaining 28,3%, is subject to a pending application to the Registrar of Banks to hold in excess of the permitted 25% limit, before beneficial ownership is transferred,” EcoCash said in a statement yesterday.
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“Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Limited and Econet Global Limited currently have a shareholding position in the bank holding company of 12,4% and 12,5%, respectively and intend to maintain a strategic shareholding in the bank holding company.”
Nyambirai revealed on social media site X (formerly Twitter) this past Sunday that the holding company’s name would be changed to avoid confusion with EcoCash (Private) Limited, since it was back under Econet.
“As a result of this reorganisation, EcoCash Holdings Zimbabwe Limited retained its status as a ‘bank holding company’ with Steward Bank Limited as its only asset,” EcoCash said.
“EcoCash Holdings Zimbabwe Limited is in the process of changing its name to remove the reference to EcoCash as the company no longer owns EcoCash and the other fintech businesses.”
EcoCash said the fintech businesses had been operating as subsidiaries of Econet since April 2024.
“Their performance was reported in the company’s public financial reports for the half year ended August 2024 under the mobile money and insurance segments,” EcoCash said.
“Mr Eddie Chibi continues as chief executive officer of the financial technology businesses that are now held as subsidiaries of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Limited. All existing fintech, mobile money and banking services operations continue uninterrupted.”
Following Nyambirai purchasing the controlling stake in EcoCash, he is now its chief executive officer with Titus Murefu becoming the chairman of the board.
