Absa banking app finally ready?
Absa, South Africa’s largest bank by client numbers, says it is close to launching its banking application for smartphones.
The bank, which boasts 12.2 million clients, had originally earmarked a launch date of Q4 2011, but that was extended into 2012 due to problems with its back-end system. The delay was extended further into Q1 2013.
The app was trialled by a select group of Absa’s staff in November.
Arrie Rautenbach, Absa head of retail banking told BusinessTech: “A media invite to the launch of Absa’s transactional banking app, will be distributed shortly.”
The group would be last of the major banks to unveil an app. First National Bank (FNB) was first to market in South Africa when it launched in July 2011.
In delivering its results for the six months ending December 2012, in early March, CEO Michael Jordaan told BusinessTech that the bank has 364,511 devices paired with the FNB App, adding that this did not just include downloads.
He also noted that the value of FNB App transactions in last six months amounted to R9.2 billion, while roughly 140,000 devices had been sold since inception, and 130,000 by the end of December 2012, with the group selling just over 50,000 smart devices in the six month reporting period.
Rival financial institutions Nedbank, and Standard Bank both launched apps in 2012.
Absa journey
Absa embarked on a digital journey with an upgrade to its online platform – absa.co.za – in 2011. This was followed by a refresh of its ATM software and hardware capabilities.
“The next step in this journey will be the launch of mobile app which is currently in a beta phase pilot with a hundred pre-selected Absa staff members,” Rautenbach said in February, following the release of the group’s annual results ending December 2012.
“One of biggest growth was seen in cellphone banking client base which grew by over one million customers last year to 4.2 million. Over 40% of personal loans approved were initiated via digital channels.”
“There is no doubt that digital is the future of banking, hence Absa is committed to building significant digital capacity and capabilities in order to make the lives of its customers much easier,” he said.
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