Absa announced today that it had 3.5 million digitally active customers in the six months to end-June 2023.
The company, which is valued at around R155.9 billion on the JSE, said its digital journey continues to create value across all business lines as the number of digital customers grows in both retail and corporate banking.
“Our commitment to quality user experience and continuous enhancement of our digital propositions is evidenced by the increase in continuous engagement on our digital platforms,” Absa told investors on Monday.
The banking group said this had resulted in the digital channel’s share of revenue in South Africa increasing from 14% to 18%, with a 57% increase in sales volume.
The company added that its continued focus on future-proofing its technology architecture is a key enabler to further build and enhance its digital platforms.
“We continue to enable the safety and stability of our digital estate with high availability of digital channels – in South Africa this remained above 99%.”
Absa added that revenue from new digital business increased by 7%, driven by 35% growth in the digital funeral business.
Absa’s Instant Life, one of the first fully digitally underwritten life insurance providers in South Africa, has launched the first digitally underwritten advisor product, offering up to R10 million in cover.
Digital transformation
Absa said digital transformation continues to gain momentum and is having the desired effect on the overall business model of a digital bank with an empathetic frontline.
“The Absa banking app has been pivotal in scaling digital adoption by expanding the franchise’s digital capabilities, and it now offers a comprehensive suite of lending and deposit products, allowing customers to perform even more transactions on the platform. The banking app maintained a strong app store rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.”
The number of app downloads, digital registrations, active users and volumes performed on the digital platform increased by double digits, the bank said.
“This had a significant impact on transforming customer engagement and distribution effectiveness.”
The bank said the revenue contribution of the digital channel improved by 4 percentage points from 14% to 18%, with the channel’s contribution exceeding 20% for most products.
The bank added that sales volume through digital channels increased by 57%, with direct sales through digital channels increasing by 66% across key products.
Payments via digital devices such as ApplePay, Samsung Pay, FitBit Pay and Google Wallet increased by 154%, improving the contribution of digital devices to 5% of total point-of-sale transactions, while eCommerce transactions from retail customers increased by 38%.
“The digital channels also demonstrated exceptional resilience, with availability sustained above 99%, providing customers with a consistent and uninterrupted digital banking experience,” Absa said.
“The franchise continued to balance innovation, best-in-class user experience and deepening financial inclusion, and was amongst the first cohort of banks to deploy the Payshap solution, a new, groundbreaking low-cost payment system, and captured approximately 40% of the market share.”
