TymeBank, South Africa’s digital bank and its international sister company Tyme, announce the appointment of David Pfaff as Chief Financial Officer of Tyme as well as the country CEO of Tyme’s South African operations.
He took office on 1 March 2021.
Pfaff is expected to divide his time between Singapore and South Africa to cover all his responsibilities.
He will work alongside TymeBank CEO, Tauriq Keraan, who will remain in his position as CEO and continue to report to the TymeBank Board.
“TymeBank continues to achieve exceptionally high customer satisfaction through its single view of the customer, its world-class technology and its easy-to-use applications, whilst still maintaining its significant cost advantage for all South Africans. Having just successfully completed our capital raise, we are gearing up for significant customer growth and uptake in our products over the short to medium term,” says Keraan.
“As TymeBank management, we are clear on the drivers of future growth. We are delighted that David is on-board as his skill set and vast retail experience will deliver insights from which the bank will benefit immensely.”
His appointment follows the recent announcement by TymeBank SA and Tyme that they have secured about R1.6 billion in foreign investment from two new international shareholders.
The new investors are Apis Growth Fund II, a fintech private equity fund managed by Apis Partners (Apis), and JG Summit Holdings (JG Summit), the renowned conglomerate owned by the Gokongwei family and one of the largest in the Philippines.
TymeBank SA is a member of the Tyme group of companies, which is headquartered in Singapore. As part of the arrangement of bringing the two new shareholders onboard, international expansion in select emerging markets will become a strategic growth priority.
“TymeBank is democratising banking in South Africa and has achieved many significant milestones, after having launched a mere two years ago. The opportunity of continued client acquisitive growth remains strong as we plan on having many more South Africans benefit from the TymeBank value proposition,” says Patrice Motsepe, chairman of African Rainbow Capital, the majority shareholder of TymeBank.
“At the same time, the bank is preparing for the roll-out of key products for the benefit of customers. David is widely credited for his vast experience and skills in retail finance, which is critical to ensure TymeBank’s continued success. We look forward to the contribution that he’ll make and wish him every success.”
Pfaff is expected to share his expertise with the implementation of TymeBank’s innovative consumer credit product labelled MoreTyme given his extensive experience in retail credit. This product is akin to lay-buy and will see the bank’s qualifying customers buying a retail product but advancing only 50% of the purchase price upfront and the balance being settled over a 30-day and 60-day period – without paying interest.
“I am excited to join such an innovative and exciting company that will change banking as we know it. Consumers will support a bank that offers superior customer service with cost-effective banking fees. Such easy-to-use and affordable banking is what will appeal to all South Africans,” says Pfaff.
Before joining Tyme, Pfaff held the position of chief operating officer and chief financial officer in his eight-year stint at clothing retailer Truworths.
His resignation from Truworths was announced in November last year, but it became effective in February this year. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and held the position of Board member at Truworths International since 2013. He was touted as a likely successor to the clothing retailer’s current Group CEO.
TymeBank also announced the appointment of two new board members, Tina Eboka and Mogomotsi (Kele) Boakgoma as independent, non-executive directors.
TymeBank onboards an average of 110,000 new customers per month, making it globally recognised for digital banking in emerging markets. The bank is expected to reach the 3 million customer milestone before the end of March. The bank intends to grow its customer base to 4 million in 2022.
With the investment made by the new shareholders, TymeBank will expand propositions in insurance, credit cards, and other value-added services to customers. This will support the bank’s ethos of broadening access to financial services to individual clients, entrepreneurs, and small and medium business owners, into the banking ecosystem.
