“Appy” birthday, FNB
While First National Bank celebrates an important milestone in its digital ecosystem this week, new kid in the banking app space in South Africa, Nedbank says that in excess of 50,000 consumers have registered for the Nedbank App Suite, which it launched in a testing phase at the back end of June.
Last week, Nedbank group said its app was successfully launched to BlackBerry users, completing its app rollout to consumers using smartphones. The Nedbank App Suite is now available to Apple, Android and BlackBerry handset and tablet users.
Standard Bank said in late August that its banking application had reached 50,000 registered users since it launched on 27 June 2012.
Absa is expecting to launch its banking app in 2013.
FNB, meanwhile, is celebrating its 300,000th banking app client since it launched in July 2011. The bank says its adding more than 30,000 new customers to the channel per month.
FNB this week also celebrates a year since it began offering smartphones and tablets to clients.
“The inclusion of the smart device as part of the personal cheque account was a crucial part of FNB’s broader strategy to drive customers towards cashless payments and digital banking” said Irlon Terblanche, CEO of core banking solutions.
To date, more than 100,000 devices have been sold, the bank said.
FNB’s range originally started with the Apple iPad, a BlackBerry Smartphone and HTC devices. It has since added Samsung Galaxy Tabs; the Samsung SIII and Samsung Note 10.1; Apple Macs; Acer Windows Laptops; the new Apple iPad and the iPhone 4S.
Related services and value-ads, including SIMs, data, insurance, gift apps and electronic magazine subscriptions, were added to enrich the offer.
When BusinessTech recently quizzed FNB on its position regarding the iPhone 5, it said it would make additional announcements within the coming weeks.
“Smartphones and tablets are becoming an integral part of our customers’ lives, and we are building a vibrant ecosystem centred around these devices that offer unrivalled value for money to banking consumers,” said Terblanche.
“Simply consider our GeoPayments functionality that we have built into our award-winning Banking App, the free ADSL and 3G data that we offer with our cheque accounts, and the ability to make free voice calls or send free SMSes between FNB App users – and it becomes clear that we offer a killer value proposition to customers and that the smart device is a natural add-on to our cheque account.”
Farren Roper, head of Connect ISP and business operations added: “Our digital banking platform is also evolving and adding value to our clients. As the market leader in App banking with close to 300 000 clients, the App is now adding more than 30 000 new customers to the channel per month.”
For Nedbank, the group says feedback for its App Suite has been very positive.
“Through the launch of the app suite Nedbank has taken a step closer to achieving our goal of empowering clients to do all their banking even more securely, anytime, anywhere.”
“Within hours of launching the Nedbank App Suite in the BlackBerry App World, a total of 6,765 users had registered. In excess of 50,000 consumers have registered for the Nedbank App Suite and we are confident of those numbers growing steadily in the coming weeks,” said Anton de Wet, managing executive, client engagement.
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