Author: Gugu Lourie
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…
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. “It continues to be rated highly on the Apple and Google app stores, with an average client rating of 4,4 (out of five),” said Nedbank on Wednesday. The banking group added that…
Nedbank’s super app Avo, launched during the national lockdown height, is slowly gaining traction as more customers signed up to use its services. In response to the coronavirus crisis, which created challenges for many clients in accessing essential services such as healthcare and home repair services, Nedbank launched its innovative super app Avo. The is a one-stop super app enabling clients to buy essential products and services online and have them delivered to their home, with payment via the Nedbank digital wallet. Nedbank first launched the Avo ‘super app’ in June 2020, offering customers and broader South African consumers access…
The Shoprite Xtra Savings Rewards Programme is riding high, adding millions of customers and flirting with 20 million users. The company said on Tuesday its Xtra Savings Rewards Programme launch in the Shoprite supermarket chain during October 2020 was met with an exceptional response from its loyal customer base. Despite the challenges stemming from a launch of this scale during COVID-19 lockdown, the programme was rolled out to 825 Shoprite and Shoprite LiquorShop stores in record time, the company said. “Together with the Checkers Xtra Savings Rewards Programme launched 12 months prior, the Group’s Xtra Savings Rewards Programme now has…
Liquid Intelligent Technologies, formerly known as Liquid Telecom, is expanding its operations into Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Last month, the company raised $840 million in a bond and loans to refinance debt and expand further into the continent. The company that is majority-owned by African telecoms tycoon Strive Masiyiwa is also building one of Africa’s largest data centres in Nigeria. Nic Rudnick, the CEO of Liquid Intelligent Technologies, said the group has appointed a CEO in Nigeria and has been recruiting staff. He added that the company’s new data centre will be live in a few…
MTN Zakhele Futhi is again in discussions with MTN to avert a liquidity crunch after the mobile phone company scrapped its full-year dividend for the year to end-December 2020. MTN’s Zakhele Futhi is a ring-fenced special purpose vehicle aimed at facilitating investment by previously disadvantaged South Africans in MTN Group (MTN). MTN on Thursday suspended its final dividend as it focuses on faster debt reduction at its holding company even after posting a surge in 2020 earnings. MTN said anticipates paying a total ordinary dividend of at least 260cps for the 2021 financial year. “We anticipate that this will be…
MTN Nigeria announced today it has acquired an additional 10MHz spectrum in the 800MHz band. The company said it bought the spectrum from Intercellular Nigeria Limited. MTN did not disclose the amount it paid to buy the spectrum. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has approved the transaction and assigned the frequency to MTN Nigeria, the company said. MTN said the acquisition will significantly improve customer experience, in line with our commitment to deliver excellent service quality to our subscribers. “Through this acquisition, we will be better positioned to support the deepening of broadband penetration in the country,” Karl Toriola, CEO…
At yesterday’s annual presentation, MTN played Nigeria’s popular Afrobeats music, which has grown into a global force. That reminded me of Nigerian writer Chimamanda Adichie who in her most viewed TED Talk of all time, “The Danger of a Single Story”, describes the effects that labels can have on how we think about ourselves and others. “It is impossible to talk about a single story without talking about power,” says Adichie. “There is an Igbo [a Nigerian language] word that I think about whenever I think about the power structures of the world, and it is ‘nkali’. “It’s a noun…
MTN Group on Wednesday disclosed that its instant messaging platform, Ayoba, has reached 5.5 million monthly active users as of December 2020. To ensure Africa doesn’t miss out on the instant messaging revolution, MTN launched its instant messaging platform, Ayoba, in March 2019. Ayoba is an advanced communications application localised for African and Middle East consumer needs, under an independent Over the Top (OTT) brand with unique features for MTN customers. “We expanded our instant messaging platform Ayoba making good strides in the year, to record 5,5 million monthly active users, an addition of 3,5 million,” the company disclosed in…
The latest data released today shows that the value of MTN Mobile Money (MoMo) transactions were at $152 billion (R2.3 trillion) as of December 2020. The mobile phone operator added that it processed 12 400 MoMo transactions per minute (up 35% from 9 200 in 2019). Furthermore, the group disclosed that the number of active MTN Mobile Money users increased by 11,7 million to 46,4 million, generating a monthly ARPU of $1,2. “While COVID-19 accelerated the adoption of mobile financial services, growth in fintech revenue was moderated by reductions in transaction fees to support our customers, lockdown restrictions on agents and…