Africa's largest automated clearing house is rebranding as it seeks to grow onto the continent.
Bankserv, which processes payments made between banks, is now called BankservAfrica, and wants to expand beyond the 2.5 million transactions it currently settles each year.
Last year, the company cleared transactions worth R8 trillion in the form of ATM withdrawals, electronic transfers, and credit and debit card payments. This accounted for 90% of all transactions under R5 million.
CEO Pieter Cilliers says the company is volume-based, and moving into Africa will allow it to do more transactions, which should bring down the costs of banking. At the moment, the company charges an average of 15c to settle a transaction. “The profit motive is limited,” he notes.
Ambitions
Cilliers says the firm needs to grow its volumes in order to remain a viable business.
“If we stand still, we'll be dead in 10 years,” he comments.
If we stand still, we'll be dead in 10 years.
Pieter Cilliers, CEO, BankservAfrica
“Our goal of further strengthening our core business offerings and expanding our reach into Africa and beyond will benefit our existing client base, and enable new clients and countries to leverage our experience and wide range of solutions.”
BankservAfrica is also tendering to handle money switching in India, and aims to take Africa on country-by-country, starting with those that border SA. Cilliers says the company is already involved in negotiations to expand the service north of SA's borders.
Up to 90% of the transactions on the continent are in cash, but the banking fraternity is becoming more established, and there is a growing move towards moving cash through cellphones, states Cilliers.
He says there is also an opportunity for BankservAfrica to settle transactions made through mobile devices, which is a growing trend in the banking community.
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