This paperless cheque account opening process uses biometric technology to validate the business and its owner, allows the SME to order and courier new cards, switch debit orders and setup digital banking immediately.
This “marks a significant milestone in our 180-year history as we move beyond being a digital innovator to a broader contextual platform disruptor,” FNB CEO Jacques Celliers said at the launch of the service on Wednesday. “It is through this contextually helpful platform that we can offer holistic financial solutions and become a trusted partner to the broader society. This will enable us to help create a better world for years to come.”
Mike Vacy-Lyle, CEO of FNB Business said FNB had worked hard to understand how SMEs operate and the day to day challenges they faced, which were considerable.
“We have coined the phrase ‘businessism’ inside FNB, driving our focus on solutions that remove those moments of angst that businesses face – from registering a company and opening a bank account, to applying for credit and managing the businesses daily affairs,” said Vacy-Lyle. “Our digital solutions now cater for the entire SME value chain via Online Banking Enterprise, which is linked to the FNB App.”
The focus on fintech has grown significantly on the African continent. Although there are a number players that actively innovate in the SME market, they often lack scale and fail to deliver a single platform that is convenient and does not pose additional cost, security and administrative burdens.
“Therefore, it was imperative that we not only integrate key solutions, but further incorporate trust and simplicity to our platforms, while ensuring that we do not add complexity in an already over-crowded marketplace,” said Vacy-Lyle.
FNB Business revealed the following statistics regarding its SME offerings:
- An average of 3000 new company registrations were initiated every month on digital channels in the last year, with more than 1,000 assisted CIPC registrations per month.
- Over 300 000 customers accessed digital account confirmation letters online (with SARS endorsement) eradicating the need to go to branch or call in for assistance.
- eWallet Pro payments between SME’s and casual workers increased 40% year on year.
- Over 4 500 customers used DocTrail which allows businesses to easily attach source or reference documents to all their digital payments in the cloud, creating a transparent and auditable trail for every payment execution.
- Over 200,000 customers registered to use FNB’s suite of Instant Value Add solutions, that help take the angst out of your day-to-day business administration of bookkeeping, payroll and invoicing.
- FNB Instant Invoicing produces over 40,000 compliant tax invoices per month for businesses;
- Business clients can now make payments, including Pay-and-Clear now, as well as those that require multiple authorisations on FNB’s digital channels.
- More than 50% of all credit applications in FNB Business are now digitally originated and approved representing more than R200m per month of new SME credit facilities.