Tyme Bank, the digital-only bank owned by billionaire Patrice Motsepe, has set its sights on becoming attractive to affluent customers as part of its efforts to grow into one of South Africa's top three retail banks.
CEO and co-founder Coen Jonker said Tyme's ambition is to reach that target in the next three years and be the leader in quality for customers.
“We want to be No 1 in terms of customer satisfaction. We want to be in the top three for things like return on equity, number of customers, the pace of growth of the business, and most things that count in retail banking.”
As part of its ambitions, Tyme plans to launch a virtual credit card this year and relaunch its credit card offering.
Jonker said a new business banking account was also in the works and the bank wanted to refresh the app experience, especially as it makes a play for more affluent customers.
“All of these things will work together to make our offering more attractive to wealthier customer segments. Like Capitec started at the base of the pyramid serving working class customers and going to wealthier customers over time, we are seeing the same pattern for us. Part of what you will see is that our propositions will become a lot more attractive to affluent customers.”
Established five years ago, Tyme Bank posted its first profit in December last year.
Jonker said it aims to be a bank for everyone.
“We have done well in making banking affordable for lower-income segments, particularly providing what is by far the best proposition for social grant recipients in the country, as well as for small and micro businesses.
“We are a general retail bank, like any other retail bank that competes for all segments of consumers and small businesses. This is just continuing to improve and continuing to be more attractive to all segments of consumers.”
Tyme Bank says it has 9-million customers in South Africa, and more than 70% are active transactional accounts. It also has operations in the Philippines.
Jonker said the bank was confident it could double its local customers to 20-million in the next five years and grow customers abroad to 15-million. It is set to launch its first product in Vietnam next month and another in Indonesia before the end of the year.
“We also would like to grow in Africa, but in the short term, our emphasis is on Southeast Asia. The best market for our model at the moment tends to be Southeast Asia. These are countries that structurally look a lot like South Africa, with progressive regulators and big retailers.”
Tyme Bank is operating in a competitive environment where Discovery Bank is working to grow its customers to 1-million by 2026 and insurer Old Mutual plans to take on Capitec by establishing a new bank in South Africa this year.
Jonker said banking competition was “healthy” as it expanded customers' choices and kept all competitors on their toes.
“Banking in South Africa has been dominated by four or five players for a very long time. It is healthy for customers that there are more players, and it is healthy for the country that there are more players coming into the market. Banking is not a winner-takes-all game; there is a place for multiple competitors in the market, and our job is to be the best and make sure what we give customers is the best value for money.
“If in the Philippines we can compete with 100 banks, a few more banks in South Africa doesn’t make us worry, we think it is good for everyone.”
Young people do not know what a chequebook looks like anymore, they have become redundant. Branches have become redundant
— CEO Coen Jonker
Jonker said a new business banking account was also in the works and the bank wanted to refresh the app experience, especially as it makes a play for more affluent customers.
“All of these things will work together to make our offering more attractive to wealthier customer segments. Like Capitec started at the base of the pyramid serving working class customers and going to wealthier customers over time, we are seeing the same pattern for us. Part of what you will see is that our propositions will become a lot more attractive to affluent customers.”
Established five years ago, Tyme Bank posted its first profit in December last year.
Jonker said it aims to be a bank for everyone.
“We have done well in making banking affordable for lower-income segments, particularly providing what is by far the best proposition for social grant recipients in the country, as well as for small and micro businesses.
“We are a general retail bank, like any other retail bank that competes for all segments of consumers and small businesses. This is just continuing to improve and continuing to be more attractive to all segments of consumers.”
Tyme Bank says it has 9-million customers in South Africa, and more than 70% are active transactional accounts. It also has operations in the Philippines.
Jonker said the bank was confident it could double its local customers to 20-million in the next five years and grow customers abroad to 15-million. It is set to launch its first product in Vietnam next month and another in Indonesia before the end of the year.
“We also would like to grow in Africa, but in the short term, our emphasis is on Southeast Asia. The best market for our model at the moment tends to be Southeast Asia. These are countries that structurally look a lot like South Africa, with progressive regulators and big retailers.”
Tyme Bank is operating in a competitive environment where Discovery Bank is working to grow its customers to 1-million by 2026 and insurer Old Mutual plans to take on Capitec by establishing a new bank in South Africa this year.
Jonker said banking competition was “healthy” as it expanded customers' choices and kept all competitors on their toes.
“Banking in South Africa has been dominated by four or five players for a very long time. It is healthy for customers that there are more players, and it is healthy for the country that there are more players coming into the market. Banking is not a winner-takes-all game; there is a place for multiple competitors in the market, and our job is to be the best and make sure what we give customers is the best value for money.
“If in the Philippines we can compete with 100 banks, a few more banks in South Africa doesn’t make us worry, we think it is good for everyone.”
Around 10% of South Africa’s customers use TymeBank as their primary banking account and popular products include debit cards, savings accounts, and grant advances.
The buy-now-pay-later product, in which people can use interest-free cards at stores owned by the TFG group, is also popular.
The bank has a health insurance product providing basic medical coverage and medical services, starting from R139 a month. Jonker said there was growing interest in it. “Essentially, we have gone out to over 12,000 medical practitioners in the country, and we have done a special deal with them that allows us to provide people with cost-effective services for a fixed amount a month.”
Up to 80% of the bank’s customers open accounts at the bank’s kiosks at retailers Pick n Pay, Boxer, and TFG stores including Foschini and Markham. The rest open accounts by downloading the app.
Jonker said branches were no longer needed as digital channels had replaced them.
“Young people do not know what a chequebook looks like any more, they have become redundant. Branches have become redundant. In the old days there were reasons people operated in branches, and it had a lot to do with customers not having digital channels where they could do things themselves. It also had to do with the economy being cash-heavy. The only reason people still go into branches is old habits.”
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