{"id":813267,"date":"2025-02-21T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=813267"},"modified":"2025-02-21T10:45:24","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T08:45:24","slug":"south-africas-new-bank-taking-on-capitec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/813267\/south-africas-new-bank-taking-on-capitec\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa’s new bank taking on Capitec"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Old Mutual’s new bank, OM Bank, will launch in South Africa this year and is set to take on Capitec in the mass market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new bank received regulatory approval from the Prudential Authority in 2024. Clarence Nethengwe was appointed as its CEO in January 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OM Bank, which cannot carry the Old Mutual name due to regulatory requirements, is set to see a soft launch in Q2 of this year. The new bank will see a broader launch in Q3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank will offer transactional banking in the mass market and will have a credit offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group, which has nearly 180 years of experience, believes it can leverage its data as an integrated financial services group to enhance customer satisfaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OM Bank will focus on being a transformational bank. It believes that traditional banks have become too conventional in their offerings, taking a one-size-fits-all approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that a bank will also go beyond traditional practices and will not simply turn customers away because they do not qualify for certain products at that stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, it would partner with customers to improve their financial situations, hoping to guide them to a place to offer banking products that meet their needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to its hope of transformational banking services, the group believes that customers will be very satisfied with pricing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It does not target the unbanked sector, as it believes that even banked South Africans can often be underserved or underbanked and have limited access beyond basic banking services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a large customer base within the Old Mutual finance stable, the group plans to present the OM Bank to its customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group is also looking at a broader strategy rather than focusing solely on its existing customer base. However, the group has admitted that this strategy has not yet fully crystallized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking on Capitec<\/h2>\n\n\n
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OM Bank will be entering a competitive market. Capitec is the dominant player in the retail mass market banking sector, with over 23 million customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Old Mutual is entering a new market, the two companies have already competed for several years, especially in the micro-loan industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Old Mutual has no immediate plans to compete with Capitec in the business banking space, as it is focusing on bringing transformational mainstream banking to customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another difference is that OM Bank will have a digital-first approach. Although Capitec has an award-winning banking app, its extensive branch network is one of its key advantages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old Mutual said the digital-bank approach will allow OM Bank to work more closely with its customers. It added that the digital-first approach will add greater convenience to customers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite being a digital-first bank, the group will still use its existing branch networks to broaden its customer branding experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The digital-first approach aligns with recent trends in South Africa. Discovery Bank, TymeBank, and Bank Zero all leverage technology and have little to no physical interaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to OM Bank’s launch, it will focus on recruiting top talent to build a skilled team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the bank being digital-first, robust systems integration and conducting thorough stress testing to ensure smooth operations at launch will be crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will also prioritise compliance with all the necessary governance frameworks, such as establishing Key Individuals (KIs) and the Executive Committee (EXCO) structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, since building a transformational bank is a ‘lifelong journey,’ the group believes that it will not be a sprint but rather a marathon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OM Bank is only months away, with the new bank set to compete with Capitec in the mass retail sector. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":811788,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[1798,12923,1110,20634,13474],"class_list":["post-813267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-capitec","tag-discovery-bank","tag-old-mutual","tag-om-bank","tag-tyme-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=813267"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":813464,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/813267\/revisions\/813464"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=813267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=813267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=813267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}