More than 25% of transactions on Steward Bank's Mastercard linked cash cards are carried out using online platforms, the company said.

Lance Mambondiyani, the chief executive officer of Steward Bank, which is controlled by Econet Wireless said banks as finance institutions "are dead".

"People don't like banks. What they like is banking," he said.

As result of this, the company is now pushing for cashless, online and card based transactions. EcoCash, the mobile money platform run by Econet, also has a seperate cash card.

"Close to 25% of our card transactions are being undertaken online," said Mambondiyani.

Recently Steward Bank announced that its ATMs now allow for airtime top ups. Its Mastercard linked debit card has seen massive take up, with up to 1 million cards having been issued so far.

Mambondiyani said his bank had adopted a strategy to "follow customers where they are standing and where they are buying".

Jimmy Shindi, an executive at Econet Services, recently said there are about 5,000 agents across Zimbabwe that are distributing the Steward Bank cards that are linked to MasterCard.

"It's a Mastercard that goes into the hand of everyone as long as they are an EcoCash subscriber. We have more than 5,000 agents around the country selling the debit card."