Following the introduction of MTN Banking, a joint venture between MTN Group and Standard Bank, more than 20-million cellphone users will now be a phone call away from a MobileMoney account.
Speaking at the launch of the joint venture on Wednesday, Standard Bank’s Alewyn Burger said the venture — which is focused on the country’s under-banked and unbanked — takes a revolutionary approach and builds a mobile bank that primarily resides on a SIM card.
The application is loaded on the SIM card — which means cellphone users can access their banking details right away. Once customers verify their cellphone number and other identification details with MTN Banking’s call centre, they can begin banking immediately.
Given the fact that the venture also serves as a customer acquisition and retention tool, MTN subscribers who sign up for MobileMoney will lose their accounts should they migrate to other operators, MTN director Irene Charnley said.
The same scenario applies to Standard Bank customers intending to take their accounts to other banks.
The network — which has a presence in six other countries — said it could start rolling out in other parts of Africa as early as next year, but is unable to project take-up rates on the home front, where it has more than eight million subscribers in a country where there are 25-million cellphone users.
Standard Bank has 17 markets on the continent and its local retail customer base currently stands at six million.
Africa’s first virtual banking initiative also comes with a card that enables users to withdraw cash.
In addition to being compliant with the Financial Intelligence Centre Act and boasting a number of security measures, the venture enables blacklisted South Africans — both employed and unemployed — to open a bank account. — I-Net Bridge