JOHANNESBURG - FIRST National Bank (FNB) said in a statement yesterday that its customers had sent R28 billion via 7.3 million active eWallets in the past 12 months, and it remained the most popular way for consumers to send and receive money in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, which had put strain on household incomes.
On average, FNB said it facilitated close to R2.5bn and more than 4 million eWallet transactions a month.
Raj Makanjee, the chief executive of FNB Retail and Private Banking, said eWallet was a success story of meaningful financial inclusion, as it allowed the bank’s customers to send money to anyone with a cellphone number.
“In the last two years, we’ve enabled more customers to enjoy the benefit of sending money via eWallet, by allowing even more customers, including Easy Smart account holders, two free eWallet sends per month. Recipients are not charged any fees to withdraw the funds, which makes this a logical solution to send or receive money. In contrast to third-party send-money solutions, which require going to a different platform to fund the wallet, our customers use our single trusted digital platform to complete the entire process,” he said.
Zibu Nqala, the chief executive of FNB Entry Wallet, said FNB had witnessed a growing trend of eWallet users who upgrade to entry-level bank accounts such as FNB Easy Zero, which had no monthly account fee.
“As at March 2021, we saw a 130 percent year-on-year increase in customers who upgraded from eWallet send money to FNB Easy Zero,” he said.
“We designed Easy Zero as a store of value for customers with limited banking needs. We also have our Easy Pay-As-You-Use and Easy Smart accounts, which offer several benefits to our Entry Banking customers. The growing appeal of our propositions attests to our ability to solve for customers’ needs at every life stage. As customers move up our retail continuum, bundled accounts offer much more value through a combination of eBucks, the best rewards in banking, and a range of specialised money management services,” said Makanjee.
BUSINESS REPORT