development 43 it can take between 45 minutes and an hour to travel to the nearest ATM, bank branch or insurance provider.
Removing the need to travel to engage with the bank, Standard Bank has recruited local sales agents, or community bankers, from thesecommunities. This means customers can interact with familiar community members, in their own language, and away from the often intimidating traditional banking environment. These community bankers are able to open bank accounts in communities with just a hand-held mobile device, and a customer’ s identity document and proof of residence. Standard Bank opens an estimated 18 000 new bank accounts a month. The account, known as AccessAccount, has no monthly management fee and has an affordable and simple pricing structure.
Standard Bank’ s cellphone banking drive has been highly successful in a country where at least 83 % of the population are active cellphone users
In 10 minutes, a customer can open and activate a bank account, with a debit card that can be used at most shops with point of sale devices, and is automatically registered for cellphone banking.
This local presence extends further to actual facilities to conduct banking transactions. Standard Bank is the first bank in the country to partner with local informal retailers already operating in townships, running small businesses known as‘ spaza’ shops. By walking to a spaza shop, customers can use a Standard Bank‘ AccessPoint’ that provides cash-in( deposit), cash-out( withdrawal) and money transfer services. With over 7 000 AccessPoints across the country, this alternative banking channel has proven to be successful, reflected in the high volume of transactions and increases in cash balances at the local retailers.
The automatic registration for cellphone banking also allows customers to conduct simple transactions, such as checking balances, transferring money, purchasing goods from a spaza retailer, or buying prepaid electricity and airtime, with just their phones. Standard Bank’ s cellphone banking drive has been highly successful in a country where at least 83 % of the population are active cellphone users.
Once customers are registered in terms of a bank account, the Standard Bank offering opens up access to a full range of financial services. In 2012, the bank launched its AccessSave offering, a savings account that can be opened in communities without needing to go into a branch, either at the same time as an AccessAccount, as well as entirely separately from the AccessAccount. While almost 70 % of South Africans do not save formally, there are indications that close to R12 billion( approx USD1.5 billion) is kept‘ under mattresses’ in the country rather than in formal financial institutions, earning no interest and put at high risk. The AccessSave account charges no monthly fee, requires no minimum balance and offers interest from the first deposit, no matter how small. It has a seven day notice period before funds can be accessed, to allow for some level of discipline without locking funds away for an extensive time when they may be urgently needed. The account has seen massive take up, with 160 000 savings accounts opened within the first 3 months of launching. Another tailored saving offering is a group savings option( Society Scheme Account), which provides a safe store of value, and the benefit of interest, for the many informal savings groups that can be found in South African society.
Low income loans
Many South Africans rely on borrowing to fund an emergency or a large expense such as school fees. Worryingly, 15 % of South Africans borrow from informal sources rather than financial institutions leaving them vulnerable to possible exploitation and reckless lending practices. Standard Bank provides customers in the lower income segment with access to personalised loan facilities( AccessLoans) that take individual circumstance and affordability into account, and can be structured to best suit their needs. Again, loan centres( called AccessBankingCentres) that are set up close to the communities in which the lower income customers live or work means access is convenient. The benefit of a preexisting relationship with the bank, through a transactional account, means that the bank has a history with the customer and can tailor rates that take this history into account.
Over and above the transactional, saving and loans products, Standard Bank’ s AccessBanking full service offering also includes access to credit card facilities, insurance products, and even a home loan, as customers’ needs grow and evolve.
Standard Bank offers a holistic range of services.
Standard Bank is a market leader in the affordable housing market, funding one out of every three homes sold to Standard Bank offers a holistic range of services households with monthly incomes under R16 000( USD1 800). The majority of this lending goes to first-time buyers, fulfilling ambitions of owning their home. These first-time home owners also undergo borrower education to assist in managing what is likely to be their biggest debt. Property ownership can enable real long-term wealth creation.
With a growing market of over 5 million customers in the lower income segment, Standard Bank is a leading player in creating better access to a holistic range of financial services for lower income groups in South Africa. Providing customers with the full range of banking services required, convenient channels of banking, and at a cost that is affordable, means that real opportunities are being created to drive sustainable, inclusive growth and development in the country.
www. standardbank. com
Authorised financial services and registered credit provider( NCRCP15) The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited( Reg. No. 1962 / 000738 / 06). SBSA 146008 – 5 / 13