Author: Gugu Lourie

Banking group Absa has selected a company insider to be the next chief executive of the South African lender. Arrie Rautenbach, is currently Absa’s Chief Executive: Retail and Business Banking (RBB), the banking group said. Rautenbach will assume his new role immediately. He replaces Jason Quinn, currently Interim Group CEO, who will resume his role as Financial Director of Absa Group and Absa Bank, effective immediately, and remain an Executive Director on the Boards. Jason held this position from August 2016 to April 2021 after replacing Daniel Mminele. Rautenbach joined Absa in 1997 and has held several senior roles over the…

Telkom will continue to pursue its spectrum lawsuit against the country’s communications watchdog, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA). “Whilst Telkom has been able to secure the much-needed sub 1 GHz in the spectrum auction, we were constrained in our ability to acquire the amount of spectrum that we need to compete effectively,” the company informed investors today. “To secure its ability to compete effectively in the mobile market, Telkom persists with its court application to ensure that the licensing of spectrum promotes effective competition in the mobile market in line with the objective of the Electronic Communications Act.”…

Vodacom Group announced today it has spent R5.3 billion to acquire the much-needed spectrum to be able to deploy 4G and 5G. Vodacom’s contribution to the auction proceeds will significantly assist the government in achieving their objectives to unlock the digital economy, with widespread benefits across our society. Vodacomsaiod in a statement it will pay R5.38 billion for a spectrum portfolio that includes: 2 x 10 MHz in the 700 band MHz, 1 x 80 MHz in the 2600 MHz band and 1 x 10 MHz in the 3500 MHz band. “This is a momentous day for South Africa. We…

South Africa’s communications watchdog announced today that it had successfully concluded the much-anticipated high-demand radio frequency spectrum auction. The auction involved six qualified bidders: Cell C, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, MTN, Rain Networks, Telkom and Vodacom. The revenue collected from this auction totals more than R14.4 billion, which will go to the national fiscus. This is the total amount generated from the Opt-In phase auction, which took place on 8 March 2022, and the main auction stage, which commenced on 10 March 2022 and concluded today, 17 March 2022. The main auction stage comprised 58 rounds of bidding between the six…

Patrice Motsepe-backed African Rainbow Capital (ARC) announced today it has injected millions into TymeBank and TymeGlobal. The company said ARC Financial Services Holdings (ARC FSH) has injected an additional R257 million into TymeBank and TymeGlobal during the period as part of the scheduled capital requirements for the bank. At 31 December 2021, the ARC Fund had an effective interest of 25% in TymeBank, being its 49.9% of the 50.1% interest held by ARC FSH in TymeBank. ARC FSH is 50.1% owned by African Rainbow Capital Proprietary Limited and 49.9% owned by the ARC Fund, which is the vehicle holding the assets…

The days of Netflix password sharing with friends may soon be over. In a blog post titled “Paying to Share Netflix Outside Your Household,” the company announced that it’s testing measures that would charge accounts extra for allowing users to stream outside of a given household. “We’ve always made it easy for people who live together to share their Netflix account, with features like separate profiles and multiple streams in our Standard and Premium plans,” Chengyi Long, Netflix’s Director of Product Innovation, wrote in the blog. “While these have been hugely popular, they have also created some confusion about when…

JSE-listed tech group EOH is offloading more assets as it continues with its stated strategic intent of improving liquidity and reducing debt. EOH informed investors today that its wholly-owned subsidiary EOH Mthombo has entered into a share purchase agreement to dispose of 100% of its shares in the Information Services companies to Bachique 842 Proprietary Limited. The deal is subject to EOH Shareholder approval. EOH added that this disposal forms part of creating a fit-for-purpose capital structure that is adequately supported by its cashflows. Bachique 842 is a wholly-owned subsidiary of LR Africa Holdings Limited. LR Africa Holdings Limited is…

Nedbank, one of the top banks in the Southern Africa region with over 7 million customers, last September launched an intelligent digital assistant, called Enbi. Nedbank is committed to delivering market-leading solutions to its customers that improve client satisfaction levels. Nedbank announced this week that Enbi, its new artificial intelligence (AI)-driven chatbot, which was launched to meet client expectations for immediate and excellent personal assistance, now answers over 100 000 client enquiries a month. Enbi offers Nedbank’s customers an intelligent, insightful, and friction-free digital banking experience by assisting customers conversationally with their day-to-day banking needs and questions. Customers can find…

Nedbank, one of South Africa’s largest banks, announced today that its Money App has attracted more than 400 000 new customers in 2021. The bank said that its Monet app is now actively used by 1, 6 million clients for the year to end-December 2021, up by 38% from 2020. The Money App, which was first launched in September 2019, makes banking more convenient for retail clients. It’s an easy-to-use, on-the-go banking app that enables you to do all your banking on your smartphone or tablet. Nedbank added that transaction volumes on the Money app rose by 54% and transaction values…

MTN digital revenue rose by 22.8% to R3.3 billion in the year to end-December 2021 and the majority of the increase is due to greater uptake of the services of Ayoba, an instant messaging super app. MTN announced today that Ayoba reached 11.6 million monthly active users’ milestone as at 31 December 2021. “This represents an addition of 6.1 million users since December 2020.” MTN launched its instant messaging platform, Ayoba, in March 2019. The app features peer-to-peer private messaging, which is end-to-end encrypted and has been updated to include music, gaming, channels and money transfer services Ayoba users can…

MTN, Africa’s largest mobile phone company, reported it had 56.8 million mobile money (MoMo) customers as of the end of December 2021. The company said it added 10.4 million new MoMo users, reflecting a 22.6% rise compared to 2020. MTN said MoMo is generating a monthly Average Revenue Per User of $1.3. MTN added that the value of MoMo transactions was up by 56.8% to $239.4 billion or R3.6 trillion and 10 billion transactions were processed, up 41.1% year on year. “There were some reductions in pricing in markets such as Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon due to competitive dynamics, as…

South Africa’s Telkom announced today its board has resolved to postpone a separate listing of Swiftnet on the JSE. Telkom announced last September its plans to float Swifnet, a masts and towers business. “Given the recent global events, current market conditions and the impact on the Capital Markets, the board has resolved to postpone the separate listing of Swiftnet on the JSE,” Telkom informed investors on Wednesday. “The Board remains committed to its value unlock strategy which is premised on Telkom’s market capitalisation not representing its intrinsic value. “Against this backdrop, the board continues to consider all strategic options that…

South Africa’s Telkom wants the High Court in Pretoria to impose a “structural or supervisory” interdict on the country’s communications watchdog, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA). “A structural or supervisory interdict is justified in the circumstances of this case,” Telkom regulatory affairs boss Siyabonga Mahlangu said a filing to the High Court lodged on Monday. Telkom is challenging ICASA’s spectrum auction process, which started today. Earlier last month, Telkom asked the High Court to review and set aside ICASA’s plan to issue a new spectrum via an auction that had been slated for March, citing a number of…

South African startup Credit Builder has secured funding for an innovative pilot to develop Africa’s bespoke financial inclusion solutions.  The startup, which is a Pentech Africa Group Holdings Company, is headed up by Co-Founder and Group CEO, Thomas Ngubane. Ngubane is an ex-divisional director within the Standard Bank Group of companies and ex-key individual of Liberty Life South Africa. Credit Builder has been awarded Top Insurance Innovation 2022 in South Africa through the Insurance Innovation Challenge, funded through the Insurance Sector Education and Training Authority (INSETA) and The Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), an entity of the Department of Science and…

LinkedIn announced today it had entered into an agreement to acquire Oribi, an Israel-based marketing analytics company. As part of the agreement, LinkedIn will also open a new office in Tel Aviv, Israel expanding its international presence and helping to further scale the value it deliver to members and customers across the globe. “We will not be disclosing the financial terms of the deal,” said LinkedIn. LinkedIn Chief Product Officer, Tomer Cohen, said as the company’s marketing solutions business accelerates to 43% year-over-year in revenue, “we are continuously investing in our technology platform to help our customers achieve maximum value…

Discovery Bank, part of Adrian Gore’s Discovery Group, said on Wednesday that retail deposits grew by 69% to R9.5 billion and advances rose by 10% to R4.1 billion as at 31 December 2021. The bank is powered by the country’s largest medical aid provider, Discovery Health. Described as the world’s first behavioural bank, the fully digital bank promises to help clients bank healthier and leverages Discovery’s shared-value model. The bank, headed by Hylton Kallner as CEO, said customer quality remains excellent with high average levels of non-interest revenue per client and the quality-focused credit strategy was evidenced by the low credit loss…

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) today announced the names of the bidders that qualify to participate in the auction phase of the ongoing licensing process for International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) spectrum – also referred to as high-demand spectrum. ICASA SAID This follows the receipt of six (6) applications on 31 January 2022 in response to the Invitation To Apply (ITA) issued on 10 December 2021. In line with the truncated timetable published by the Authority for this licensing process, and after extensive analysis of received applications, the qualifying bidders are: 1. Cell C, 2. Liquid Telecoms, 3.…

MyBucks, a FinTech company owned by JSE-listed Afristrat, has been placed under liquidation by the Luxembourg tax authority or l’Etat du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg. “Whilst MyBucks had previously made representations in court in order to prevent MyBucks from being placed in bankruptcy, the court of Luxembourg has concluded the matter and upheld the bankruptcy application,” Afristrat informed investors on Wednesday. “MyBucks has the right to appeal this matter and are considering their options in this regard.” Afristrat added that the bankruptcy of MyBucks may have an impact on the company’s financials, of which the full extent is currently being determined, and which may have…

African FinTech player Flutterwave announced today that it has raised $250 million or R3.7 billion in Series D funding, valuing the company at over $3 billion or R45 billion as the brand continues to transform the way Africans transact on the continent and worldwide. Flutterwave has become the highest valued African startup with this investment. It is a validation of African talent, innovation and its young inspiring people. It is also a huge endorsement in the growth of the business, innovation and technology landscape in Africa. Flutterwave’s latest backers include some of the world’s most respected investors led by B…

Former president Jacob Zuma’s request to appeal against an earlier ruling that Advocate Billy Downer SC had the title to prosecute him in a decade’s old graft matter flopped on Wednesday morning. Judge Piet Koen dismissed Zuma’s leave to appeal against having Advocate Downer SC prosecute him, saying the reasons put forward were, “were frivolous, irrelevant, superfluous, and that no points of law for appeal were made or properly identified”. Developing story … NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga says state has been “vindicated” by Judge Koen – and is ready to put former President Zuma on trial. pic.twitter.com/hkRUleZ2Cs — Karyn Maughan (@karynmaughan) February…

Telkom on Monday reported stellar performance from its mobile and fibre business. The company announced that active mobile customers rose 10% year on year to 16.4 million with a blended ARPU of R91.45 for the quarter ended December 2021. This boosted the group’s revenue by 2.3% year on year to R4.4 billion. “The prepaid market remains the driver of new connections, prepaid customers grew by 12.0% to 13.8 million. In the third quarter, we recorded 143 634 prepaid net additions,” the company said. Telkom added that mobile data traffic increased by 7.9% year on year to 246 petabytes, supporting mobile…

The latest data released today shows that the value of Vodacom’s mobile money platform, M-PESA, including Safaricom, continues to scale at an impressive rate with transaction values up 16.1% to exceed R430 billion per month. Vodacom said M-PESA revenue for International business rose 12.9% to R1.3 billion, with normalised revenue growth at 9.3%. “The result was supported by customer growth and new service adoption, such as lending,” said Shameel Joosub, Vodacom’CEO. M-PESA customers increased 4.5% to 16.7 million, promoting financial inclusion. The company added that the lending products continue to scale across the portfolio, supported by M-PESA Africa’s strategic direction.…

Vodacom announced today that its super app VodaPay has attracted more than 1 million registered users in three months. “In South Africa, the launch of our VodaPay super-app in October last year has exceeded our expectations by attracting 1.4 million downloads and 1.0 million registered users in its first three months,” said Shameel Joosub, Vodacom Group CEO. “We see VodaPay as a precursor to M-Pesa’s evolution and further strengthening our FinTech position across our footprint…and assisting us in connecting the next 100 million African customers so that no one is left behind.” The VodaPay super app is available for download from…

Vodacom boss Shameel Joosub announced that the Financial Services Business is integral to its purpose-led business model, the largest component of its new services revenue and a clear strategic priority. Vodacom Financial Services posted a 12.5% growth to R2 billion in the third quarter to 31 December 2021, as it continues to scale user adoption, new products, and services. According to Vodacom, financial services revenue growth is supported by ongoing platform adoption and product expansion. “Our M-Pesa platform, including Safaricom, processed $28.2 billion of transaction value per month in the third quarter, up 16.1%,” said Joosub. In South Africa, financial…

With more than 70 billion real-time payment transactions processed globally in 2020, financial institutions need robust systems to prevent fraud and reduce costs. Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled applications power banks, insurers, asset managers, and FinTechs to deliver improved services and outperform competitors, increase customer lifetime value, and increase market share. These AI-enabled applications were detailed in NVIDIA’s “State of AI in Financial Services” report, based on responses from over 500 C-suite executives, developers, data scientists, engineers and IT teams working in financial services. The top two of the top three priorities across the industry remain fraud detection and algorithmic trading, while…