Business Talk – Discovery Bank CEO Hylton Kallner on reshaping South Africa’s banking sector through innovation
In this Business Talk with Michael Avery interview, Hylton Kallner discusses how Discovery Bank is reshaping South Africa’s banking sector through digital innovation.
Kallner is the CEO of Discovery Bank and holds a Bachelor of Economic Science, Actuarial Science, and Econometrics from the University of Witwatersrand.
After graduating from university, he joined Discovery in 1996 and soon became a key player in the organisation.
He has worked on various marketing, actuarial, and strategic projects over the 27 years he has spent with the company
In 2006, Kallner became Discovery’s Chief Marketing Officer – a position he held for nine years.
He was then appointed as the Discovery Life CEO in 2016, and as the Discovery South Africa CEO in 2020.
Discovery had entered the banking sector with Discovery Bank in 2019 – and Kallner took the reins of this important new venture as CEO in 2021.
Ever since, Kallner has leveraged his extensive experience with and understanding of Discovery’s shared-value business model to drive growth at Discovery Bank.
The interview
In this Business Talk interview, Kallner celebrates a landmark 2025 in which Discovery Bank transitioned to profitability and won several prestigious awards.
After unpacking what has driven this success, Kallner turns to some of the most prevalent topics in the financial sector.
He talks about democratising cryptocurrency through Discovery Bank’s partnership with Luno, as well as the new TRUST Alert system that uses AI to understand a client’s unique behavioural fingerprint.
Kallner also unpacks the role Discovery Bank is playing in the greater Discovery ecosystem – including how the Discovery Bank app is now being positioned as the ecosystem’s primary digital channel.
He discusses the expansion of the Discovery Miles+ network through new partnerships, as well as how Discovery is building the bank of the future while balancing both profitability and innovation.
Kallner concludes the discussion by sharing what Discovery Bank clients can expect moving forward.
Watch the full interview with Hylton Kallner, below.
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