KwaZulu-Natal Business 2016-17 edition

OVERVIEW
With cellphone access in that time having grown from 42% to 90%,
one would expect that to have been the main reason for this growth,
but that is not the case. James Francis, writing for Brainstorm, points
out that of the nine-million South Africans who use mobile money,
only 3% fall in the LSM 1-4 category, ie poorer people. He writes that
'mobile money in South Africa has been catastrophic'. However, the
South African banking sector's excellent infrastructure (plus the efforts
of the Big Four and Capitec to reach out to new markets) has made up
for this failure.
Among recent innovations designed to reach the unbanked were
Teba Bank allowing customers to deposit at supermarkets, Pick n Pay
Go Banking (a division of Nedbank), 70% of Absa's new ATMs (400 in
one year) in poorer areas and Absa launched two mobile banks, FNB
also created mobile branches and most of Standard Bank's new sites
were planned for townships (Finscope).
ONLINE RESOURCES
Auditor-General South Africa: www.agsa.co.za
Banking Association South Africa: www.banking.org.za
Financial Services Board: www.fsb.co.za
Insurance South Africa: www.insurance.za.org
KZN Growth Fund: www.kzngrowthfund.co.za
Post Bank: www.postbank.co.za
South African Reserve Bank: www.resbank.co.za
Absa’s partnership with
Thumbzup allows shops to accept
card payments with smartphones
and tablets. Introduced
in 2012, the device turns phones
into terminals. In 2012, Absa took
over Edcon’s card portfolio, massively
increasing the bank’s reach
(Edcon brands include Edgars,
CNA and Jet).
Absa’s Entry Level and Inclusive
Banking (Elib) branches have
proved popular, accounting for
an increasingly high percentage
of the bank’s loans, despite still
representing quite a small number
of actual branches.
In 2012, Nedbank launched
Approve-it, which allows customers
to accept or reject an
Internet transaction by cellphone.
FNB has a wide range of cellphone-banking
options and a
Facebook application whereby
cellphone vouchers can be posted
on the social-networking site.
The eWallet application converts
the voucher into cash or airtime.
Standard Bank’s communitybanking
initiative offers a lowcost
cellphone-banking service.
Retailers can act as agents for the
bank, even in very remote rural
areas. Shops such as Shoprite,
Pep and Spar are connected, as
are certain spazas.
Another area where banks are
growing new markets is in affordable
housing. In the context of a
large backlog, Standard Bank announced
that it was setting aside
R2-billion for the affordable segment.
The municipality of eThekwini
has 430 informal settlements,
accounting for more than 252 000
households.
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