Author: Staff Writer

A total of 401 million online searches for used cars took place last year (an all-time record and an almost 40% increase year-on-year). Furthermore, the average selling price of a used car in the last year was R289 312, an increase of R9 003 over the previous year. These are amongst the key findings contained in the 2020 AutoTrader Car Industry Report, which was released on Monday, 3 August. This annual report details trends and insights into the South African used car market. As the largest digital automotive marketplace in South Africa, AutoTrader provides unparalleled insight into car-buying patterns in…

Capitec’s new banking app has reached the number 1 spot on both the South African Google Play and Apple app store charts. It currently trends on the charts ahead of Zoom, Whatsapp Messenger, Tik Tok and Facebook.  “Our digital banking services are the most widely used in the country, with over 7.5 million active users,” Gerrie Fourie, CEO of Capitec Bank, says. “We’ve also noted a significant increase between January and July 2020, with the bank welcoming almost 600 000 new digital banking clients.” This success comes at a time when bank’s traditional service channels are taking a back seat…

SASSA presents beneficiaries of the COVID-19 grant with an opportunity to receive their grants at their chosen and convenient outlets. Beneficiaries can now change from one payment method to another. They can change from receiving their grant at the Post Office to a bank account of their choice or vice versa. They also have the flexibility to move from one bank to another. In order to achieve this, SASSA is opening its system for approved citizens to update the channel through which payment should be made.  This will be open from Monday 03 August to Sunday 09 August 2020, 24…

The South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) has paid 4 million people their R350 Social Relief Grant, according to Minister of Social Development, Lindiwe Zulu. Zulu made the statement on Thursday in a hybrid sitting of the National Assembly on “Socioeconomic Interventions to Mitigate the Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic”. Zulu said SASSA has received 7 million applications for the R350 Social Relief Grant and has already paid 4 million people. SASSA started taking nationwide applications for the grant on 11 May 2020 and promised to make the first payment on 15 May 2020. But millions of unemployed South Africans continue to complain that they have…

Capitec – South Africa’s largest digital bank – has taken the final step in its paperless journey with the introduction of an eSignature capability, by means of a biometric fingerprint. At a time of COVID-19 and social distancing, this is a crucial move to ramp up convenience and help keep South Africans safe. Biometric readers allow for sanitization after each client’s use, while paper documents cannot be easily disinfected between parties. “We’re constantly challenging the norm, helping our clients to live better through smarter, simpler banking. Our transition to paperless banking is in line with this, offering our clients improved…

MTN today launched another offering for avid gamers. Enter, MTN Arena, through which MTN is bringing the world of competitive gaming to the casual mobile gamer along with daily, weekly and monthly mobile tournaments – and the chance to win a share of R100 000 in prize money every month. Available on MTN Play, MTN’s portal for all things gaming, music and video, MTN Arena makes access to tournaments for games such as X-Wing fighter, Star Wars Rebels Special Ops, Spiderman Mysterio Rush and Angry Flappy Wings, quick and easy. MTN Arena comes on the back of the recent launch…

MTN Nigeria is attracting more customers as it prioritises upgrading its network capacity to accommodate growth in traffic while continuing to expand 4G network coverage, albeit at a slower pace given the constraints presented by COVID-19. In the first half of the year, MTN Nigeria achieved 6.8 million in net additions to connect over 71.1 million customers to its network. The company also connected 3.8 million new users to the internet, bringing its active data subscribers to 29 million. MTN Nigeria’s MoMo (mobile money) subscribers increased by 1.6 million to 2.2 million in the six months to end June, according…

FinTech startup Remitly has raised $85 million (R1.4 billion ) at a $1.5 billion (R24.7 billion) valuation in a funding round led by existing investor Prosus’s PayU. The funding will enable Remitly to expand its suite of financial services products and digital solutions as the global demand for digital remittances continues to surge during the COVID-19 pandemic. Returning investor Prosus’s PayU led the round at a $1.5 billion valuation. They were joined by returning partners DN Capital, Generation Investment Management, Owl Rock Capital, Princeville, Stripes, Threshold Ventures, and Top Tier. “As the current health crisis continues to devastate the global…

As the COVID-19 crisis continues globally, carriers need to be prepared in four areas of network construction and business development to quickly unleash network potential and inspire business growth, said Huawei’s executive director and president of the Carrier BG Ryan Ding. He was delivering a keynote speech at the Better World Summit 2020 today. 1. Carriers need to maximize the value of existing networks. They should make the most of their networks and rapidly expand their capacity by using software or adding boards or replacing RRUs. This can help them respond to the soaring data traffic during the pandemic and…

FNB announced on Wednesday it has launched a virtual card for individual and business customers. The banking group said in a statement that the virtual card will be available by October 2020. Customers can access the virtual card via the FNB App and the RMB Private Banking App. Once available, customers can request the card anytime, anywhere at no additional cost. The virtual card is available to individual customers across Debit, Fusion and Credit Cards and for business customers on Debit Cards. All 3 million FNB and RMB Private Bank App users can conveniently use Virtual Cards for QR code…