FNB’s eWallet, a popular solution for South Africans with minimal banking needs, continues to drive financial inclusion and meaningful impact on South African’s lives. Over the past financial year, FNB customers send money via eWallet to 8.2m active users, which equated to over 68 million transactions. These eWallet users made R42 billion in withdrawals, which represented a 7% increase from R39 billion the previous year.
The sustained sturdy growth of eWallet affirms our continuous commitment as a bank towards broadening financial inclusion by creating products that meet consumers’ expectations for seamless, convenient, and secure ways of sending and receiving money. The growth in transactions is also testament to the impact that we are making in the lives of South Africans through solutions that are easily accessible, helpful for their daily lives, and available through our safer digital channels.
The current eWallet offering allows recipients to cash out at FNB ATM networks, selected retailers, FNB standalone merchants and several fuel stations. The eWallet also enables users to buy prepaid airtime and electricity and therefore ensures that people are not excluded from any financial activity simply because they don’t have a bank account. In addition to ensuring that we meet customers where they are at, we have partnered with retailers to enable eWallet recipients to easily access funds at more cash-out points.
The popularity of eWallet indicates that FNB’s efforts to provide more South Africans with convenient and cost-effective financial services solutions are gaining traction. More importantly, FNB has increased the value of eWallet by offering qualifying individual customers a limited number of free eWallet sends per month. In addition to the send money function, the bank noted that 10% (R 199.3 million) of the send money was used by the recipient for prepaid airtime purchases, demonstrating the ability for our solution to meet customers at their point of need.
Building on the popularity of eWallet and impactful value provided by this solution to customers, FNB also introduced the FNB Easy Zero bank account several years ago, that allows customers to migrate from the wallet to a bank account. This solution was created as a bridge between eWallet and introducing clients to the formal banking ecosystem. As a result, customers can now choose from the best and most affordable options for their unique financial needs.
To date, FNB Easy Zero has amassed a growing active base of 1.3 million customers, providing essential banking services ensuring customers incur little to no transactional fees, monthly account fees, or rogue debit orders. The product has evolved to enable customers to take up additional banking solutions. In November 2022, FNB introduced a solution that enables Easy Zero customers to take up personalized funeral policies through a simplified due diligence process.
Monthly premiums are based on the customer’s profile and the number of lives covered, from as little as R50 per month (each policy allows for cover of up to 21 family members). To date, just over 29 000 customers in the Entry space have protected themselves and their families with over R2,5 billion worth of insurance cover. Solutions such as eWallet and Easy Zero demonstrate innovative ways we are solving our customer’s needs in a manner that is relevant to their context. More importantly, we also want to support our customers along their journey, at every life stage.
We remain committed to the financial wellbeing of all South Africans and are proud of how these solutions continue to empower consumers by transcending geographical barriers to promote financial inclusion.
Testament to our commitment to digital innovation and providing value to customers, the eWallet solution was named an Icon Brand and a category winner in the Money Transfers Category the 2022/2023 Ask Afrika Icon Brands Benchmark Survey.
Lytania Johnson, CEO of FNB Personal Segment
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