First National Bank's eWallet has seen a 133% jump in growth for the month of December 2011, processing over R140 million in money transfer transactions as compared to R60 million in December 2010.
“Every festive season since its launch, eWallet has continued to show remarkable growth,” says Yolande van Wyk, CEO of FNB eWallet Solutions. “Average daily transaction values have also increased to approximately double the figures we saw a year ago.”
eWallet recently announced various enhancements to the eWallet functionality. Customers can now pay from eWallet directly into any South African bank account with their cellphone. They can also make payments to any of FNB's pre-loaded beneficiaries including municipalities and major retailers. Paying from eWallets to bank accounts had reached figures of over R500 000 a month after this development went live to market.
eWallet allows anyone to send money to any cellphone number in South Africa. The sender or recipient does not need to have a bank account. Senders can send from an FNB bank account, or put money into a eWallet at any PEP store. The money is transferred instantly and the recipient receives an SMS notifying them that they have received money. By using a five digit one time pin sent to their cellphone number, eWallet recipients can access their money from any FNB ATM or PEP Stores. Recipients can use their funds to buy prepaid airtime or electricity and can also on-send the money to another recipient with a valid South African cellphone number.
“The key attributes responsible for the solution's popularity include its simple functionality, convenience, South Africa's high mobile penetration levels (where more than 35 million people own a cellphone), and its availability to both the banked and unbanked. We strongly believe that in order to experience further growth for eWallet it is important to look past just servicing the unbanked. We need to emphasise that the service is for everyone and we will continue unpacking our value proposition to both sides of the market,” concludes Van Wyk. - I-Net Bridge