As South Africa’s top five banks duke it out over the position of most affordable in the country, BusinessTech looks at which institution offers the cheapest entry into the mainstream market.<\/p>\n
According to FinMark Trust, approximately 75% of the South African adult population (aged 16+) is considered banked. This includes about 10 million adults who receive social grants (through SASSA), of which 8.2 million (82%) receive less than R3,000 a month.<\/p>\n
This leaves a large gap in the market for the formal banking sector to grow their businesses with potential entry-level banking customers.<\/p>\n
Each of South Africa’s banks offers a low-cost entry-level transactional account which allows customers to pay for transactions as they bank, with a minimal monthly maintenance fee.<\/p>\n
Capitec’s Global One account has grown to be a dominant player in this field – but has also gained wider appeal and now competes with the big four banks in middle-level markets.<\/p>\n
However, while the Global One account (which is currently the only transactional account offered by Capitec) compares rather favourably to its middle-market competitors, it is only the third-cheapest account on offer to entry-level customers.<\/p>\n
FNB has often maintained that Capitec\u2019s Global One account is most comparable with its entry-level account, FNB Easy.<\/p>\n
FNB Easy carries a monthly account fee of R4.95 and charges R4.55 per R1,000 withdrawn at native ATMs (to a maximum of R9.10), effectively undercutting Capitec by 5 cents.<\/p>\n
However, even FNB’s Easy account is still only the second cheapest available across the 5 major players.<\/p>\n
In December 2013, after transitioning to Barclays Africa, Absa admitted that it had lost a large number of cutomers – specifically in the lower income bracket – to Capitec. This led to an aggressive push from Absa to compete directly with Capitec in the entry-level market.<\/p>\n
According to Reuters, Absa\u00a0Personal and Business Banking CEO, Craig Bond said that the group had lost “hundreds of thousands” of customers to Capitec and pegged a figure of R1.2 billion to spend over the next three years on refurbishing its branch network in South Africa in a bid to claw them back into the fold.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, Absa, which proved to be the costliest middle-market account<\/a> for taking out money you’ve deposited in the bank, now has the cheapest entry-level account with its Basic Transactional pay-as-you-use offering.<\/p>\n * First R1,000 only, 3,50 + 1,10% of value after<\/small><\/p>\n While Standard Bank offers its AccessAccount with no monthly maintenance fee, the bank’s withdrawal charges are limited to a flat rate only for the first R1,000 taken out of the account, after which a R3.50 + 1.10% of value charge will apply.<\/p>\n The bank’s charge to withdraw cash from another ATM is also the costliest by default, and its digital banking offering on the account also only applies to cellphone banking.<\/p>\n The rates above are based on pure PAYU prices and don’t include value, plus or any other bundles offered by the banks.<\/p>\n The basic transactional accounts, without bundles, place the onus on customers to be aware of what transactions they make.<\/p>\n The accounts covered do not include child, student or senior or any other special accounts offered by the banks.<\/p>\n SA bank withdrawal fees compared <\/a>(2014)<\/strong><\/p>\nCheapest bank accounts in SA<\/h3>\n
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\n Bank<\/strong><\/td>\n Account<\/strong><\/td>\n Monthly fee<\/strong><\/td>\n Digital banking<\/strong><\/td>\n Withdrawal fee (Native)<\/strong><\/strong><\/td>\n Withdrawal fee (Other)<\/strong><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Absa<\/td>\n Transact<\/a><\/td>\n R4.50<\/td>\n Free<\/td>\n R4.20<\/strong><\/td>\n R7.00<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n FNB<\/td>\n Easy<\/a><\/td>\n R4.95<\/td>\n Free<\/td>\n R4.55<\/strong> per R1,000<\/td>\n R9.10<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Capitec<\/td>\n Global One<\/a><\/td>\n R5.00<\/td>\n Free<\/td>\n R4.60<\/strong><\/td>\n R7.30<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Nedbank<\/td>\n Ke Yona<\/a><\/td>\n R5.00<\/td>\n Free<\/td>\n R5.50<\/strong><\/td>\n R7.50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Standard Bank<\/td>\n Access<\/a><\/td>\n Free<\/td>\n Free cellphone banking<\/td>\n R5.50*<\/strong><\/td>\n R6.70 + R3,50 + 1,10% of value<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n More on SA banks<\/h3>\n
Withdrawal fees: SA banks compared <\/a>(2013)<\/strong><\/h3>\n