Nedbank, one of South Africa’s largest banks, says it now has more than 2,2 million digitally active customers as of end-December 2020, reflecting a 25% increase versus the same period in 2019.
“We implemented our end-to-end digital onboarding, sales and servicing capabilities as part of our Managed Evolution (ME) technology journey, which have proven to be beneficial in this time, with digital sales in Retail Business and Banking (RBB) increasing to 49% (from 21% in 2019),” Nedbank said on Wednesday.
“Excluding MobiMoney, digital sales increased to 26% (from 12% in 2019). Our clients’ access to banking improved, as digitally active retail users increased by 25% to 2,2 million.”
The banking group added that during the lockdown digital capabilities were vital as it launched various innovations such as Avo super app.
“We also introduced more retail digital onboarding (Eclipse) capabilities to new products such as investments, cards and overdrafts, and started the rollout of juristic client onboarding,” Nedbank said.
“This resulted in retail digital sales increasing to 49% of all sales (2019: 21%) and digitally active clients increasing by 25% to 2,2 million. Our digital successes were underpinned by our Managed Evolution (ME) technology strategy, which is materially complete for all the foundation projects and overall 78% complete (2019: 70%).”
During 2020 additional self-service options, which were previously available in branches or through employee-assisted channels only, were released on its digital channels, taking
the total digital self-service functions to 171 (compared with 114 in 2019).
“This digitisation of services in RBB, along with the impact of the lockdown, has enabled us to increase digital service volumes by 187% and reduce branch teller volumes by 42%.”
To date, Nedbank said its branch floor space has decreased by almost 57 000 m2 (decreased by around 15 000 m2 in 2020) and employee points of presence declined by 40 in 2020 to 549.
“Over the past 12 months, we reduced total group headcount by 1 079, mainly through natural attrition.”
The bank said delivering on its strategy over the past few years has positioned it well in building foundational enterprise capabilities that have been beneficial during the COVID-19 pandemic and will support the delivery of its reimagined strategies.
“In 2020 our focus on delivering market-leading client solutions was evident in the rollout of new digital innovations and enhanced client satisfaction ratings.”
“Our Target Operating Model 1.0 (TOM 1.0) optimisation programme recorded additional savings of R675 million in 2020, translating to cumulative savings of R1,8 billion to end-2020.”
Loyalty and rewards
The bank’s enhanced loyalty and rewards solution continued to gain traction.
“To date, we have signed up more than one million Greenbacks members on the new platform and have so far acquired over 300 000 new members since launching the new programme in September 2019, an increase of 28%.
“These initiatives helped us to increase the number of digitally active clients by 25% to 2,2 million.”
The loyalty and rewards solution is a money management programme offering incentives for better money management and opportunities for doing good for society, as well as enabling clients to earn rewards.
Also read: Nedbank Money App Is Starting to Attract More Customers
Nedbank, one of South Africa’s largest bank, announced that its Money app is now actively used by 1,2 million clients for the year to end December 2020, up by 42% from 2019.
The Money app, which first launched in September 2019, makes banking more convenient for retail clients.
It is an easy-to-use, on-the-go banking app that enables you to do all your banking on your smartphone or tablet.
