Shoprite is said to be in talks with Investec about a partnership as Africa\u2019s largest grocer seeks to expand the financial services it offers millions of customers, according to people familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Discussions between the companies are ongoing, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The structure of any agreement is still being worked out, and there\u2019s no certainty a deal will be reached, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shoprite declined to comment on the matter, adding that information regarding any business partnerships will be shared with the market as it becomes available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investec also declined, saying the bank does not comment on speculation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A tie-up would accelerate Shoprite\u2019s push deeper into financial services without requiring the retailer to become a bank itself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investec could provide the technology and regulatory expertise needed to broaden Shoprite\u2019s offering, along with other licensed lending services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shoprite contributes one of South Africa\u2019s largest pools of consumer transaction data and a national distribution network. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The retailer\u2019s insights into customers\u2019 spending patterns and shopping behaviour could help drive product development in areas such as rewards and payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move comes as South Africa\u2019s largest retailers, insurers, banks and telecommunications companies increasingly converge to offer higher-quality services to larger groups of customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Retailers have amassed extensive customer data, have trusted brands and physical distribution networks, positioning them to offer a growing range of financial products that can be developed by banks and telecommunications companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shoprite Chief Executive Officer Pieter Engelbrecht has repeatedly said the company wants to capture more of the financial activity flowing through its ecosystem, but has little interest in becoming a fully fledged lender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am after the transaction,\u201d Engelbrecht said in an interview on 1 September. \u201cWe are not bankers, we are retailers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shoprite has already taken steps to support that strategy. The company acquired an initial 51% stake in R&A Cellular, a technology and payments business whose point-of-sale devices are used by informal traders, in a deal that became effective in August. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The acquisition provides another channel through which Shoprite could distribute financial services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The retailer also works with African Bank on some everyday banking services that underpin its Money Market Account, which allows customers to deposit and withdraw cash, transfer money, and make purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shoprite has also been testing a Mastercard debit card linked to the account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An agreement with Investec would potentially add more specialised banking and fintech expertise to the group\u2019s ambitions, enabling Shoprite to expand beyond basic transaction services into a broader range of financial services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFull-fledged banking, I think, is better left to the bankers,\u201d Engelbrecht said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Shoprite is reportedly in talks with Investec about a potential partnership between the two companies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":862735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2113602343790952822","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2246504596169939","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18046290863827925","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[1498,21554,7520],"class_list":["post-881245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-investec","tag-pieter-engelbrecht","tag-shoprite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881245","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\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881245"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881245\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":881248,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881245\/revisions\/881248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}