FNB mobile banking up 150% in Africa in December
Financial services group First National Bank (FNB) said on Wednesday that it recorded a 150% rise in transaction growth for its mobile banking services in Africa in December 2011.
The group’s eWalllet offering grew 1,384% for the month of December 2011 when compared to the same period in 2010.
The bank said its customers conducted 2.4 million mobile phone banking transactions during December 2011 in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Swaziland and Lesotho, to the value of R214 million as compared to R986,000 transactions in December 2010.
Botswana, the bank’s leading subsidiary outside South Africa in terms of mobile phone banking activity, saw just over 1.3 million transactions and in the same month, a 126% increase year-on-year. According to research by International Telecommunications User (ITU), Botswana has 2.3 million cellphone users.
Namibia recorded year-on-year growth of 155%, Zambia 308% and Swaziland 227%, the group said.
Ravesh Ramlakan, CEO FNB Cellphone Banking Solutions, says the growth of the service in African markets is due to consumers’ increasing confidence in their mobile handsets as communication devices, coupled with the convenience the solution offers.
“Innovation has played a key role in growing cellphone banking across Africa. Our ability to adapt the service for use on any cellphone has been an important driver of this growth,” Ramlakan said.
Since inception, FNB eWallet has generated 407,110 original sends in its four African operations (Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho and Zambia) as at the end of December 2011. In Botswana FNB eWallet, saw an increase in original sends of 1,236% year on year from December 2010 to December 2011.
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