By Karl Gernetzky
Customer deposits passed the R1bn mark in April and growth is ahead of expectations, the owner of the digital bank says
TymeBank is on track to have 2-million clients by August, a mark previously expected only to be reached in December, according to parent company African Rainbow Capital Investments (ARC Investments).
The digital bank, which was launched in February 2019 has signed up more than 1.8-million clients to date, Patrice Motsepe’s ARC Investments said on Friday, with growth in customer deposits strong, and ahead of its business plan.
ARC Investments has a majority shareholding in TymeBank, which surpassed the R1bn customer deposit mark in April.
The bank continued to gain about 100,000 customers a month, or between 20,000 and 30,000 a week, ARC said, though this had dropped off as SA’s Covid-19 lockdown kicked in, which affected activity at its kiosks that are located in Pick n Pay and Boxer stores.
“Coupled with ambassadors having worked less hours as a precautionary measure, and therefore translating to less assistance to on-board customers and deal with customer queries, it resulted in the bank onboarding approximately 20% less customers in April,” the group said.
Covid-19 has also affected its plans to sign up members of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC).
In February the bank announced it was partnering with the church to offer banking services to about 6-million adult church members, and early success was achieved, the group said.
“However, the onset of Covid- 19 and the resultant national lockdown has made it impossible to assist churchgoers at Moria, the ZCC’s central place of worship, and elsewhere in the country where church gatherings are held to on-board as TymeBank customers.”
ARC Investments also has a stake in mobile operator Rain, saying in its trading update on Friday Rain has experienced strong growth in clients and data usage amid Covid-19.
