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Bard Santner secures microfinance bank licence, targets diaspora market
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HARARE - Bard Santner has secured a deposit-taking microfinance bank licence from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).
The Harare-based financial services group now has a regulated foothold in a market it says no-one in Zimbabwe, or the wider region, has yet built a bank around: the diaspora.
In a public notice, the central bank confirmed the registration of Bard Santner Microfinance Bank Limited. It took effect from October 1, 2026.
The licence covers 15 authorised activities. They include savings deposits, consumer and mortgage credit, factoring, trade finance, bank guarantees, money transmission, foreign currency trading (subject to the Exchange Control Act), payment instruments, portfolio management, leasing, hire-purchase and credit reference services.
Remittances will be the engine. Bard Santner already moves money home through its subsidiary, TX Money Transfer. The group has offices in Harare, Johannesburg and New York.
The market is large and growing. Zimbabwe’s diaspora remittances hit US$2.45 billion in 2025, up 14 percent on the prior year and about 16.1 percent of foreign currency earnings. Formal inflows reached US$1.62 billion in the first seven months of 2026, up 24 percent year on year, according to the RBZ. Across Africa, remittances were estimated at US$124.2 billion in 2025, more than foreign direct investment or official development assistance.
Yet that money has rarely been treated as capital, said Bard Santner Bank managing director Ngonidzashe Chikowore.
“This is not the launch of just another start-up bank,” he said. “Zimbabwe and Africa do not need another bank for the sake of a bank.”
He argued that agility, not balance-sheet heft, will decide who wins.
“In the digital era, agile and technology-driven banks frequently outperform traditional financial giants by prioritising customer experience over asset size,” he said.
The pitch is a mobile-first, cross-border platform. Planned products include multi-currency accounts, instant conversion of remittances into investments, diaspora-linked savings instruments and trade finance for SMEs on African corridors. Chikowore said a nurse in Manchester or a restaurant worker in Johannesburg should be able to fund a business in Harare or Bulawayo as easily as paying a utility bill.
The bank says it will draw lessons from South African digital banks such as Bank Zero. South Africa accounts for about 40 percent of Africa’s fintech revenue.
Chikowore said Bard Santner hopes to graduate to a merchant or commercial banking licence. For now it sits inside the regulated deposit-taking framework, subject to capital adequacy standards, governance requirements and ongoing supervision. The rollout will be phased, with full operations expected “soon”.
“The licence is not merely a vote of confidence in Bard Santner, but also a responsibility,” Chikowore said. “Durable institutions are not built on speed alone. They are built on capital, corporate governance and trust.”
Group chief executive Senziwani Sikhosana framed the licence as a bridge between people and economies.
“We will not just be moving money; we are bridging people and economies,” he said.
The Harare-based financial services group now has a regulated foothold in a market it says no-one in Zimbabwe, or the wider region, has yet built a bank around: the diaspora.
In a public notice, the central bank confirmed the registration of Bard Santner Microfinance Bank Limited. It took effect from October 1, 2026.
The licence covers 15 authorised activities. They include savings deposits, consumer and mortgage credit, factoring, trade finance, bank guarantees, money transmission, foreign currency trading (subject to the Exchange Control Act), payment instruments, portfolio management, leasing, hire-purchase and credit reference services.
Remittances will be the engine. Bard Santner already moves money home through its subsidiary, TX Money Transfer. The group has offices in Harare, Johannesburg and New York.
The market is large and growing. Zimbabwe’s diaspora remittances hit US$2.45 billion in 2025, up 14 percent on the prior year and about 16.1 percent of foreign currency earnings. Formal inflows reached US$1.62 billion in the first seven months of 2026, up 24 percent year on year, according to the RBZ. Across Africa, remittances were estimated at US$124.2 billion in 2025, more than foreign direct investment or official development assistance.
Yet that money has rarely been treated as capital, said Bard Santner Bank managing director Ngonidzashe Chikowore.
“This is not the launch of just another start-up bank,” he said. “Zimbabwe and Africa do not need another bank for the sake of a bank.”
He argued that agility, not balance-sheet heft, will decide who wins.
“In the digital era, agile and technology-driven banks frequently outperform traditional financial giants by prioritising customer experience over asset size,” he said.
The pitch is a mobile-first, cross-border platform. Planned products include multi-currency accounts, instant conversion of remittances into investments, diaspora-linked savings instruments and trade finance for SMEs on African corridors. Chikowore said a nurse in Manchester or a restaurant worker in Johannesburg should be able to fund a business in Harare or Bulawayo as easily as paying a utility bill.
The bank says it will draw lessons from South African digital banks such as Bank Zero. South Africa accounts for about 40 percent of Africa’s fintech revenue.
Chikowore said Bard Santner hopes to graduate to a merchant or commercial banking licence. For now it sits inside the regulated deposit-taking framework, subject to capital adequacy standards, governance requirements and ongoing supervision. The rollout will be phased, with full operations expected “soon”.
“The licence is not merely a vote of confidence in Bard Santner, but also a responsibility,” Chikowore said. “Durable institutions are not built on speed alone. They are built on capital, corporate governance and trust.”
Group chief executive Senziwani Sikhosana framed the licence as a bridge between people and economies.
“We will not just be moving money; we are bridging people and economies,” he said.
Source - www.zimlive.com
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