Subscribe
  • Home
  • /
  • Fintech
  • /
  • TymeBank reaches new high, adds fast mode of transaction

TymeBank reaches new high, adds fast mode of transaction

Samuel Mungadze
By Samuel Mungadze, Africa editor
Johannesburg, 28 Jul 2020
TymeBank CEO Tauriq Keraan.
TymeBank CEO Tauriq Keraan.

Digital bank TymeBank has revealed it now has two million customers, a target reached this week, five months ahead of schedule.

TymeBank is one of the new digital banks that recently launched to challenge the incumbents, Discovery Bank and Bank Zero.

The Patrice Motsepe-controlled TymeBank says of the two million customers, 1.2 million are regarded as active clients.

The business mogul is an anchor shareholder of the bank via African Rainbow Capital, a black economic empowerment investment holding company, in which he is the majority shareholder.

TymeBank also revealed it has launched a fast mode of transaction, SendMoney, which allows users to send and receive money through their electronic gadgets.

Customers can send cash to anyone with a valid South African cellphone number and the recipient will receive it immediately.

The bank says this service costs R4 per transaction when the recipient opts to cash the money out using the voucher, which it claims is one of the lowest rates in the industry, and is free when the recipient has a TymeBank account.

“The person receiving a SendMoney gets an SMS with an automatically-generated voucher number that they can use to withdraw the cash at any Pick n Pay or Boxer till point,” says TymeBank.

Commenting on the bank’s recent achievement, CEO Tauriq Keraan says: “Our sustained growth in customer numbers is testament to the trust our customers place in us as they see and experience the significant affordability, value, convenience, simplicity and transparency of our offerings.

“None of our customers are required to fill in a single physical form or provide supporting documents in person when they open a bank account.

“Everything is digital. It takes a mere five minutes to open a bank account, get a personalised debit card, deposit money, start transacting with the debit card, smart app, Internet banking item or on USSD, earn double Smart Shopper points for swiping with the card inside Pick n Pay stores and earn up to 7% for savings in GoalSave.

“Customers can send money to any South African cellphone number in a mere nine seconds. These are just some of the practical ways we have made banking really easy and beneficial for our customers.”

Keraan says with R10 billion in customer deposits to date, customers are showing they trust the bank.

While TymeBank is digital in nature, customers have a network of national support through the use of Pick n Pay infrastructure, with kiosks hosted at over 600 stores.

It says it continues to onboard between 110 000 and 120 000 customers per month, or roughly between 5 000 and 6 000 clients each working day, and customers perform more than one transaction every second of the day.

“The Pick n Pay instore infrastructure also allows customer ease of use in terms of transactions as they can either deposit or withdraw money at any one of the 15 000 tillpoints in 1 500 stores nationally available to them while doing their shopping,” says the bank.

TymeBank has been actively chasing growth in a highly competitive environment.

Earlier this year, it announced a partnership with the Zionist Christian Church, which it says will lead to the bank signing up members of the 12 million-strong congregation of the church.

Since its launch in February 2019, TymeBank has been ranked in the Forbes list of the World’s Best Banks – being rated as the second-best bank in SA after being in operation for only 16 months.

More recently, it was shortlisted in the Financial Times and the International Finance Corporation Transformational Business Awards 2020 in the Innovating for the Most Vulnerable and Disadvantaged category.

Share