South Africa’s Standard Bank has drafted in the likes of Batman, Tweety and a cartoon cow in a bid to lure more young people to banking, the financial services group said on Monday.
Its new (sum)1 product will offer the largely untapped youth market a range of bright cards decorated with pictures of well-known and modern cartoons characters like The Powerpuff Girls and Cow and Chicken to encourage youngsters to use debit cards over cash.
The product is available to anyone under the age of 24, provided they are full-time students. The bank said children as young as seven could be expected to use debit cards.
”Banks have traditionally neglected the needs of youth. We have tended to focus on satisfying parents’ needs without finding what the target market wants,” said Standard Bank Retail Banking Managing Director Peter Wharton-Hood.
Standard Bank puts the target youth market in South Africa at around 1.75 million, of which only one million currently have accounts. About 43 million people live in South Africa.
Securing customers when they are young is seen as key for a bank’s longer-term client base. Standard Bank said estimates showed around two-thirds of students continued to use the brands they grew up with.
”This is a market that follows trends and is constantly shifting. We need to remain an integral part of their lives,” Wharton-Hood said.
As well as being able to pay for goods with the card, the (sum)1 — pronounced ‘someone’ — accounts will let full-time students under 24 ringfence some funds as savings and offer them discount vouchers that include deals on movies, travel and food. – Reuters