Nedbank to launch banking app ‘shortly’ – CEO

Nedbank (NED) says it will launch a banking application during the course of the year, but it cannot not elaborate on an exact date.

Nedbank CEO, Mike Brown, told Radio 702 that the group will launch an app ‘shortly’.

“We have actually spent quite a long time working on developing our infrastructure to enable us to roll-out numerous apps over the top of our infrastructure. And really the area where we’ve spent the most of our time, effort and energy over the last 12 years is in the security environment.

“We’ve done a lot of work around the encryption etc. required to make sure that the security and app environment is water tight. And you will be seeing an app from Nedbank shortly, with those enhanced security features,” Brown said.

A spokesperson for the group also confirmed to BusinessTech that “the bank is not in a position to talk about the details of this (app) right now, but we are going to have a launch at some stage during the course of the year.”

FNB is currently the only bank in South Africa that offers mobile banking through an app; which grants users all the benefits of banking, using their smartphones or tablet PC devices.

Since launching its mobile banking application on the July 20, 2011, FNB has seen over R2 billion in transactions go through the app. The group boasts in excess of 100,000 users.
This is according to Michael Jordaan, who announced the figure on February 22, 2012) via his Twitter account.

The app offers customers a convenient, anytime, anywhere digital banking service, as well as other value-added services like location based services, as well as free calls and messages.

The app is a free download available on the Apple App Store; BlackBerry App world; Android Market and Nokia Ovi store and covers the four major operating systems.

The anticipated release of Absa’s banking app was delayed due to problems with its back-end system. It had initially intended to launch an app in Q4 of 2011.

It is unclear what Standard Bank‘s plans are in this space.