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SA's banking sector reports a surge in demand for online and cellphone banking products, with this trend expected to continue.
Three of SA's big four banks – Absa, First National Bank (FNB) and Standard Bank – agree that online banking and cellphone transactions are growing at an impressive rate.
Absa says cellphone banking customers have increased by 113%, to 1.5 million, while Internet banking customers grew 11%, to 1.1 million customers.
In the past financial year, transactions worth more than R79 billion a month, which translates to over R800 billion a year, were undertaken by Absa customers through the Internet and cellphone banking channels.
Absa managing executive of digital channels Christo Vrey says: “Customers are looking for banking that is accessible anywhere, anytime. Over the next few years, we expect this to grow even more as customers become more comfortable with banking via digital channels and technology offers even more functionality.”
Lee-Anne van Zyl, CEO of FNB Online, says online banking has seen a 25% increase in customers year-on-year and the value of online transactions is R405 billion. She adds that FNB aims to expand its lending products, such as home and personal loans, with new products that can be applied for online.
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