TymeBank announced today (10 October) that it has onboarded eight million customers as of 6 October 2023, which means one in every five eligible (16 years and older) South Africans now has a TymeBank account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commenting on this latest milestone, TymeBank CEO Coen Jonker said: \u201cWe are immensely proud of the fact that we have acquired eight million customers since launching in February 2019. Our performance reinforces our position as one of the world\u2019s fastest-growing digital banks and a credible alternative to the legacy banks for South Africans.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This pace of growth also brings us closer to our ambition of becoming one of the top three retail banks in the country,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jonker noted that TymeBank\u2019s customer acquisition rate has continued to accelerate, with more than 200,000 customers signing up every month and a 70% account activity rate on a rolling 30-day basis.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat is particularly pleasing is the fact that the last million customers were acquired in record time \u2013 just under five months, despite ongoing challenges,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur success can also be attributed to our tried-and-tested \u2018phygital\u2019 model, which seamlessly integrates the convenience of digital banking into physical retail ecosystems, while the strength of our partnerships with leading retailers such as Pick n Pay, Boxer and more recently TFG, allows us to optimise our distribution network,\u201d said Jonker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the bank, growth has been achieved despite ongoing outages at Home Affairs, which hinders the bank\u2019s ability to securely verify customers\u2019 identities during the onboarding process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Loadshedding has also had an impact. Although TymeBank kiosks have battery backup, load shedding affects the operation of stores and shopping centres, and intermittent power supply compromises the network operators the bank relies on for moving data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recent developments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Since launching PayShap in August as the only bank to allow payments to mobile numbers linked to any bank account for free, TymeBank has seen a steady increase in the usage of this real-time payment service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The bank\u2019s fixed deposit product \u2013 launched earlier this year and offers South Africa\u2019s best savings rates (11%) \u2013 has also been a huge success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe continue to see huge demand for our unique proposition that combines free banking and South Africa\u2019s best savings rates. This has broadened our appeal among more affluent consumers, and we are now approaching R1 billion in balances for our fixed deposit product,\u201d said TymeBank Chief Commercial Officer Cheslyn Jacobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other end of the spectrum, TymeBank continues to gain traction among SASSA recipients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have put great effort into disbursing SASSA grants to beneficiaries, and customer growth in that segment is solid. Our model is ideal for grant beneficiaries, and more and more of them are choosing us to get their grant payments efficiently,\u201d said Jacobs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TymeBank\u2019s acquisition of Retail Capital, a large SME funder, is also yielding good results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The bank now funds over 50,000 businesses with ~R9.5 billion of working capital, and its funding portfolio has grown by 20% since the Retail Capital business was acquired in December last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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