Branching Out

Standard Bank says South Africa needs a new banking model

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Banking Africa

By David Whitehouse

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Posted on September 9, 2021 14:10

FILE PHOTO: Customers queue to draw money from an ATM outside a branch of South Africa’s Standard Bank in Cape Town © Customers at an ATM at a branch of South Africa’s Standard Bank in Cape Town, March 15, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings/File Photo
Customers at an ATM at a branch of South Africa’s Standard Bank in Cape Town, March 15, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings/File Photo

Standard Bank plans new partnerships in products and distribution as it seeks to sustain its first-half recovery, head of South Africa Lungisa Fuzile tells The Africa Report.

Africa’s largest bank by assets in July partnered with Pick n Pay to open branches within retail stores. The bank has started building in-store branches in Pick n Pay stores in the Western Cape and Gauteng. Discussions have started with “one or two” further retailers to expand the concept, Fuzile says.

Standard Bank and other incumbents in South Africa are seeking to improve distribution and lower the cost of their services in the face of increased competition from new entrants including Tyme Bank, Discovery Bank and Bank Zero. Tyme Bank agreed a partnership with Pick n Pay in 2019.

The Pick n Pay branches run according to the retailer’s trading hours rather than traditional banking times. They typically use two bankers and an area of six to 10 square metres within an open retail space. That represents a huge saving over full branches of between 100 and 300 square metres, Fuzile says.

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