Mobile banking is making more inroads in the retail banking sector with Standard Bank Group saying it made over R430 billion in 2015 from transactions made through its mobile banking platform.
The bank saw its mobile traffic growing by nearly 100 percent in the past year resulting in a decline in branch and ATM transactions, which accounted for five percent of the bank’s total transactions.
Researchers have forecast an increasing shift from traditional banking platforms to digital channels, with some indicating that the future of African banking now lies in digital platforms.
In its report on global banking, international tax firm, EY, said mobile banking is the next big thing in the retail banking industry. EY says over the next five to 10 years, mobile banking will become as routine as using ATMs but the firm cautions that successful customer experiences will require large technology investments, tricky collaborations with competitors, and a clear “own-the-customer” strategy.
Banks will also need to be open-minded — willing to learn marketing and security lessons drawn from trailblazing developing markets. But the rewards for banks could be great, too, given the extremely low transactions costs associated with mobile devices,” EY said in the report.
Peter Schlebusch, Standard Bank’s Chief Executive for Personal and Business Banking says online and app banking has transformed the way customers engage with the bank, enabling them to bank on their terms and whenever they want.
“Standard Bank has invested heavily in IT infrastructure to ensure that the bank has a single view of the customer, and the customer has a single instant view of their complete banking services regardless of geography, product or customer segment.
“The app includes the ability to open accounts online, move money across borders quickly and easily, trade shares internationally on stock exchanges and even lodge homeowner insurance claims off a single mobile device,” he said.
According to Schlebusch, of the 600, 000 Standard Bank universal banking identity cards, over R5.7 billion in value has been traded on Standard Bank’s Online Share Trading App. He says over 22,000 merchants and more than 200,000 customers have signed up for SnapScan with InstantMoney processing more than R7.5 billion in money transfers and remittances.
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