Barry Streek
Steps are being taken to transform the old post office savings accounts into a fully- fledged bank, mainly for the lower-income and rural groups.
The Cabinet has already approved a three- phased process to establish PostBank, which in the first phase is to have greater autonomy within the post office and have separate accounts.
The Director General of Communications, Andile Ngcaba, told members of Parliament this week that the post office already has three million customers with savings worth R2-billion in PostBank.
“PostBank is only a savings bank, but it has no right to lend money. You can imagine what we require. The uniqueness of PostBank is that people can extract small amounts.”
The possibility of the post office savings accounts being turned into a bank was first raised by the Straus commission, which identified PostBank as the institution which could provide rural financial services based on the network of post office counters.
In the second phase approved by the Cabinet, PostBank will be able to provide a complete range of payment and funds transfer services as well as expand the deposit service range.
In the third phase, an independent board of directors will be established and be accountable to the government through the minister of communications as the sole shareholder, and it will expand its services “to include credit products and services”.
Ngcaba said his department’s vision of PostBank is to establish it as a financial institution for the mass mobilisation of savings and investment funds through post offices and to “create a bank of first choice for the lower-income group”.
He also said tenders have been called for Ecash machines, worth R10-million, to be installed at post offices to enable people to pay accounts and make electronic commerce transactions. These will be open 24 hours a day, but people will not be able to use them to withdraw money.
ENDS