FNB’s eWallet shows true impact in Africa

FNB’s eWallet is showing strong growth in its African operations with a 119% year-on-year increase in the last financial year. It has also maintained its growth trajectory in South Africa with the total number of eWallets in all countries reaching 2.5 million, an 84% increase on the previous financial year.

“The success of eWallet in South Africa as well as our African operations has proven that there is a pervasive need to send money easily and instantly through a network agnostic mobile money solution,” says Yolande van Wyk, CEO of eWallet Solutions at FNB. “Over the last financial year alone, over R3.2 billion has been sent into eWallets across countries in which the service has been launched. These countries include South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho and Zambia.”

Outside of South Africa two countries in particular have shown very high customer acceptance and take-up. Both Namibia and Botswana’s growth has exceeded expectations with approximately 17% of citizens in Botswana and, in less than a year, over 5% of the population in Namibia receiving money into an eWallet.

“The growth of eWallet in the African subsidiaries has been a lesson in how local conditions effect how people adopt and use a service. We have noticed that Botswana and Namibia’s low population density contributes to the take-up. With a population density of less than four people per square kilometer in both these countries, there is clearly a need to send money across a distance, and eWallet has fulfilled this need,” says van Wyk.

In South Africa there are no discernible corridors as eWallet users tend to send money within a region or province, with Gauteng being the predominant province from which people are sending and receiving money. In Namibia four of these dominant regions have been identified, namely the Khomas, Oshana, Erongo and Otjozondjupa Region. In Botswana, sends mostly originate from the South East Region of Botswana, home to the country’s capital Gaborone.

“Outside of Namibia and Botswana we are still building the eWallet business. Some of our countries such as Zambia and Lesotho are relatively young, and we believe that eWallet will support the growth of the bank in those countries. Also with the expansion of our ATM network, as well as new technologies such as the Slimline* ATMs, we have the potential to grow the eWallet business even further across all countries,” concludes van Wyk.