{"id":854327,"date":"2026-03-18T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=854327"},"modified":"2026-03-18T16:31:25","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:31:25","slug":"the-south-african-retail-giant-keeping-banking-ceos-up-at-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/854327\/the-south-african-retail-giant-keeping-banking-ceos-up-at-night\/","title":{"rendered":"The South African retail giant keeping banking CEOs up at night"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

GoTyme Bank CEO Cheslyn Jacobs says that Pepkor’s expansion into banking will introduce a major competitor into the space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pepkor, South Africa’s largest clothing retailer, received regulatory approval in November 2025 to create a bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The retailer also acquired fintech software provider Cloudbadger to help build the bank. The bank aims to reach millions of lower-income customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pepkor has also started the hunt for a new banking chief as it plans to use its 2,500 PEP outlets in South Africa for the bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank was initially seen as a possible partnership with Investec, but Bloomberg<\/a> has now reported that Pepkor are looking to launch the lender on its own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the bank is still far from launching, Jacobs told BusinessTech that all banks should keep an eye on the new venture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that PEP boasts a seasoned exco and a massive distribution network, with PEP stores found “everywhere” in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the Tyme Group team is familiar with the people building the tech behind the upcoming bank, who are highly skilled. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Jacobs joked that he sleeps well at night and that it won’t keep him awake, it will be on his mind when he wakes up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he noted that the transition from retail to banking may not be smooth sailing for Pepkor, as banking is a highly competitive business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revolut is a different story <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

While Pepkor’s banking operations may pose a threat to GoTyme’s rebranded operations in South Africa, Jacobs fears international banking giant Revolut less. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revolut formally applied for a South African banking licence in November, marking its first move into Africa as a digital bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank believes the South African market is primed for “disruption,” and the company sees a clear opportunity to bring its product expertise and customer-first approach to the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A full banking licence would allow Revolut to offer a complete range of financial services rather than a limited app-based product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revolut has grown rapidly over the last decade, and has over 65 million customers worldwide, including 12 million in the UK. It operates in over 48 countries worldwide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the bank’s customer base is huge, Jacobs said that Revolut and GoTyme will operate in different segments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Revolut has millions of customers, they are spread across the many markets in which it operates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

GoTyme, on the other hand, has over 12.5 million customers in South Africa alone, which works out to roughly one-third of all South Africans over 16 years old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Jacobs admitted that Revolut’s operations are “super sexy,” its South African operations would be incredibly niche. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This differs from GoTyme’s high-volume and low-margin focus. Jacobs did welcome the competition from PEP and Revolut, as greater competition is better for growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notably, Revolut’s South African CEO, Jacques Meyer, is a former Tyme employee, serving as its Chief Operating Officer from 2015 to 2018. This was before TymeBank launched to the public in 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meyer was also the Chief of Product of Discovery Bank from 2019 to 2022, giving him extensive expertise of South Africa’s digital banking environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revolut also appointed Dr Gaby Magomola as chairman of its South African business. Magomola held senior executive positions at Citibank, Barclays, FNB, and was a former CEO of African Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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GoTyme South Africa CEO Cheslyn Jacobs<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

With reporting from Bloomberg. Headline image from Reuters. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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GoTyme Bank CEO Cheslyn Jacobs says that PEP’s expansion into the banking space will pose a massive challenge to existing banks in the country. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":854344,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[23854,13455],"class_list":["post-854327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-gotyme","tag-tymebank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854327","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=854327"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854327\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":854351,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854327\/revisions\/854351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}