Category: <span>Banking</span>

South African banks have come under fire for processing December debit orders earlier than usual. But even as account holders express shock and frustration, financial service providers say it’s common for accounts to be debited early during the festive season If you’ve got debit order agreements with various companies, there’s a good chance that some...

Aspirant homebuyers can now calculate their home loan repayment plans by dialing Nedbank’s new USSD code on their phone, a move that opens access to homeownership for low income earners, the bank said. The bank’s move coincides with the low interest rate environment in the property market that has provided a boost for the local...

Virgin Money South Africa announced that it has changed its name to Spot Money SA, adopting the name of its Virgin Money Spot app. This follows the acquisition of Virgin Money SA by “a leading private equity firm”, Spot said, in partnership with the local executive management team. Absa recently announced that it was shutting down...

Digital bank, TymeBank has announced its fee changes for 2021, including making a number of transactions free. Launched in 2018, TymeBank has quickly become one of the largest digital banks in South Africa, with around 2 million customers. The group is backed by billionaire Patrice Motsepe’s investment group African Rainbow Capital, and offers an affordable...

Telkom has launched Telkom Pay, which is its digital wallet service that runs through WhatsApp. Telkom Pay allows customers to send money to anyone with a cellphone number and can be accessed without any other app or software. “We are launching financial services solutions that cater to everyone and that are easy to access through one’s...

“Absa advises that an employee has unlawfully made selected customer data available to a small number of external parties. The leaked data relates to a small portion of Absa South Africa’s customer base, although investigations continue,” it said. The bank did not immediately say what type of information was handed over. It did not say...

Discovery Bank has launched a number of new features in its banking app, while also including virtual cards. The bank said that clients now get up to 20% off when they spend their Discovery Miles online and in-store. Customers can also make payments to their contacts who are Discovery Vitality members through Discovery Pay by...

African cross-border fintech startup Chipper Cash has raised a $30 million Series B funding round led by Ribbit Capital with participation of Bezos Expeditions — the personal VC fund of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Chipper Cash  was founded in San Francisco in 2018 by Ugandan Ham Serunjogi and Ghanaian Maijid Moujaled. The company offers mobile-based, no fee, P2P payment services in seven countries: Ghana, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda,...

Google is moving deeper into consumer finance. The tech giant will let users open bank accounts, pay friends and manage budgets through a new version of its Google Pay app rolling out Wednesday.  The Mountain View, California-based company partnered with Citi and Stanford Federal Credit Union to launch the mobile bank accounts and said it plans to...

Capitec has launched a virtual banking card, which is completely digital. It is aimed at customers who shop and do payments online, and are worried about card fraud. Like a physical card, clients can use it online, but it’s safer than a physical card which can be stolen or duplicated. The virtual card is loaded...