The banking industry is in the midst of a profound transformation driven mostly via evolving digital technologies. With consumers demanding more and more convenience, transparency, and personalized services, the banking industry is faced with the urgent need to re-invent, innovate, and also reshaping the way in which banking is imagined.
Major Banking Landscape Revolution
This evolution is nothing short of revolutionary, and with more digital banking services emerging each year,it holds the prospect of a completely new banking landscape to appear in a short space of time.
Digital Bank Revolut, has confirmed to Business Tech Africa that it is in the initial stages of assessing possible entry into the South African banking sector.
The global banking company is a large digital operator globally, reaching across 40 countries and over 160 regions. The bank has over 50 million personal bank accounts and over half-a-million business bank accounts in its banking portfolio.
The digital banking innovator also has revolutionised the banking industry with innovative products such as its under 18 bank account product aimed at 6 to 17-year old’s, specifically aimed at getting younger people banking services that teach them about financial independence and make sense for the next generation of bank service users.
In addition, they have gone beyond what local digital banking services offer, which includes an investment service for share trading and even crypto coin trading facility.
Their stated global mission is for every person and business to do all things money — spending, saving, investing, borrowing, managing, and more — in just a few taps and they would appear to have got that right with over 31 million downloads of its banking App in 2024 alone.
Local Banking Groups at Risk
Should they decide to go ahead with the expansion it would be a clear challenge to local digital banking operations such as Tymebank and Discovery Bank as well as the traditional larger banking groups in South Africa.
Revolute operate across many regions and is looking to expand its coverage into other markets, with the potential of the UAE and of South Africa, now being considered for its growth.
Business Tech Africa, reached out to Revolut to seek confirmation of if and when they would be looking to enter the South African market, with the company confirming that it was looking at entry but that this was still in the early stage of evaluation.
According to a company spokesperson: “Revolut continues to explore opportunities for growth in new markets as part of our mission to bring the Revolut app to customers around the world. South Africa is a market we are evaluating, and one we see as attractive, with the potential to offer a unique value proposition to customers in the future. However, we are quite early in the process and have no further updates to share at this stage.”
Read More about Digital Banking in South Africa: READ HERE
