First National Bank will launch cellphone banking in Botswana on Friday, which will make every handset a potential banking channel. The service will at first only be available on the Mascom network, which has approximately 500 000 subscribers. But the bank envisages activating the service on the Orange network shortly.
FNB mobile transact CEO Len Pienaar said they were excited to be the first South African commercial bank to export its cellphone banking model, buoyed by its nearly 300 000 registered customer base in South Africa.
Pienaar said he is confident that the technology will be applied successfully across borders to address one of the key challenges facing developing countries — providing convenient access to banking for the previously unbanked.
Pienaar says FNB’s SA cellphone banking foundation provides a solid base for the bank to establish and grow its mobile banking footprint faster in Botswana.
“The large geographical area and distances in Botswana provide adequate scope for cellphone banking to take off with little or no cannibalisation across channels,” says Pienaar.
FNB has been operating in Botswana since 1992, and is the second largest commercial bank in terms of assets and profitability. It has 14 branches, 54 ATMs, 74 Mini-ATMs and 1 300 point of sale devices. – I-Net Bridge