The business continued pursuing new strategies that drive performance despite a challenging economic environment. Through the mobile money business, the Group launched EcoCash Bill Manager, a platform that aggregates service providers and allows customers to conveniently pay their bills. As at end of 1H23, EcoCash had over 200 000 customers onboarded on the platform. The Group also launched the EcoCash chatbot, an AI driven customer experience solution to improve efficiencies in query resolution as well as improve the overall mobile money experience. The EcoCash business remains the major revenue contributor closing the period under review with a contribution of circa 50%. Steward Bank, which contributed 29% to total revenue, continued the journey of digital transformation with the commencement of the second phase of the upgrade. The second phase will see an increased automation and digitalization of the Bank’s systems and processes as well as enhanced capacity to launch new banking innovations. Following the revamp of the low Know-Your-Customer (KYC) iSave accounts platform, the Group managed to onboard 234 000 customers on iSave accounts and achieved a 10% reduction in mobile banking registration queries. The business continues to build around the core life and short-term insurance products for the Insurtech business with the business line contributing 18% to total revenue. Regardless, total revenue for the Group declined in real terms compared to same period last year on account of running inflation and transaction limits. Adjusted EBITDA marginally inched up reflective of the benefits of ongoing digital transformations which have seen an improvement in operational efficiencies. The Group closed the period under review with a positive PAT compared to a loss registered end of FY22.
