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FNB dominates cellphone banking

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 30 Mar 2011

First National Bank's {FNB's) cellphone banking offering has the biggest slice of the mobile banking market in SA, according to the latest Reserve Bank industry report.

Every six months, the Reserve Bank releases a consolidated industry payment report, and the latest report indicates the bank is the market leader in the cellphone banking space.

In a statement, FNB says it has in excess of 42% of the cellphone banking customers and processed 82% of volumes and 44% of the value within the mobile banking market.

In December 2010, FNB's 2.6 million cellphone banking customers processed in excess of 15 million transactions with a transaction value in excess of R1.7 billion.

Ravesh Ramlakan, CEO of FNB Cellphone Banking Solutions, says the uptake of the service is proof it is becoming the preferred alternative as people are driven by the “anytime, anywhere” concept of banking.

“Of interest is that our predominant customer base resides within the mainstream market: 72% of our 2.6 million customer base earns less than R100 000 per annum, making cellphone banking an ideal channel of accessing financial services for those who need it most,” says Ramlakan.

In June last year, FNB reached the two million mobile banking customers milestone. The bank recorded over 2.5 million registered customers in October and added another 100 000 customers over November and December alone.

Responding to what could have driven the increase in customers, FNB says: “People have overcome their security concerns with this channel and are now confident to transact using their cellphones.

“We have also simplified the registration process so customers can register using online banking, ATMs or branches.”

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