Why TymeBank is One of the Fastest-Growing Digital Banks

Digital banking service TymeBank is onboarding about 100 000 customers per month or between 20 000 and 30 000 customers each week.

Billionaire Patrice Motsepe, through his investment company African Rainbow Capital Investment, bought a majority stake in TymeBank in 2018.

African Rainbow Capital informed investors on Friday TymeBank succeeded in acquiring one million customers by 23 November 2019.

“This milestone is slightly ahead of its schedule, as the bank originally expected to achieve this by end of December 2019,” the investment company said.

“The bank is now working towards onboarding two million customers by December 2020.”

TymeBank was officially launched on 26 February 2019.

TymeBank currently partners with retail giant Pick n Pay, enabling its customers to bank at Pick n Pay and Boxer stores.

Of the current one million customers who have opened bank accounts, some 400 000 are active customers said African Rainbow Capital.

The average number of transactions per active customer is consistently increasing, it added.

“This growth rate has resulted in TymeBank being one of the fastest-growing digital banks at this stage of its lifecycle, when measured against the leading digital banks across the world.”

TymeBank currently has the Everyday transactional account as well as GoalSave savings account.

African Rainbow capital said TymeBank’s customers have already deposited some R500 million in savings accounts with the bank and the average GoalSave balance per customer is R4500.

The most common transaction type has been card swipes which shows that customers enjoy earning smart shopper rewards.

Following this, cash deposits at till points in Pick n Pay stores are the most common transaction type.

“This demonstrates that cash on hand is still prevalent within the bank’s target market segment. A personal loan product as well as a low-cost bank account for small and medium businesses are currently being piloted and prepared for public roll-out to the market in early 2020,” it added.

“The bank’s customer analytics show that more than half of its customers earn a salary of less than R5000 per month, and 45% of customers are older than 35 years.”