Blue Label abandons bank license idea
JSE-listed Blue Label Telecoms says it is no longer pursuing the prospect of acquiring a banking license, an idea mooted in late 2010 following a partnership with uBank.
On Tuesday (21 August) the group reported a modest rise in revenue to to R18.72 billion for the year ending May 2012, from R18.06 billion previously.
Operating profit improved to R658.92 million, from R451.75 million in 2011, while headline earnings per share increased by 40% from 46.20 cents to 64.65 cents.
The group said its board approved a gross ordinary dividend of 23 cents per ordinary share, from a dividend of 14 cents in 2011.
In November 2010, Blue Label Telecoms and uBank, formerly Teba Bank, teamed up to “develop innovative banking solutions”. The bank has traditionally serviced mining workers, boasting a client base of about 500,000 at the end of 2011.
Blue Label developed a platform for uBank which provides the back-end infrastructure to mobile banking solutions – such as cellphone banking, mobile wallets and electronic money transfer – and other value-added services, such as prepaid airtime and electricity, transport and event ticketing, and lotto.
Joint-CEO of Blue Label Telecoms, Mark Levy told BusinessTech at the group’s results presentation in Sandton: “[Adoption is] a little slower than anticipated. I don’t say this from a Blue Label perspective. Unfortunately, it’s not as aggressive as we would like, but it’s in play.”
“It’s more, we believe, commitment of the customer (uBank) to start pushing the products and services to their customers. We can provision, but ultimately, it’s their job to enable,” Levy said.
At the time of the initial partnership with uBank, Mark Levy said that Blue Label would investigate the possibility of acquiring a bank license.
“We are not going for a banking license,” Levy said on Tuesday. “Our view is that we will partner with as many banks as possible. We want to be an aggregator.”
Related article
Blue Label ups profit, lifts dividend
R79.4 million secret payment – where did it come from?
Blue Label highlights extraneous transaction
Blue Label talks up cash resources
Blue Label new connections target on track
Loading ...