In the last 12 months, FNB customers have sent R28-billion via 7.3-million active eWallets. On average, FNB facilitates close to R2.5-billion and over 4-million eWallet transactions per month.
Raj Makanjee, CEO of FNB Retail and Private Banking, says eWallet is a success story of meaningful financial inclusion as it allows the Bank’s customers to send money to anyone with a cellphone number.
“In the last two years, we’ve enabled more customers to enjoy the benefit of sending money via eWallet by allowing even more customers, including Easy Smart account holders, 2 free eWallet sends per month,” he says. “Recipients are not charged any fees to withdraw the funds, which makes this a logical solution to send or receive money. In contrast to third-party send money solutions which require going to a different platform to fund the wallet, our customers use our single trusted digital platform to complete the entire process.”
According to Zibu Nqala, CEO of FNB Entry Wallet, FNB has also witnessed a growing trend of eWallet users who upgrade to entry-level bank accounts like FNB Easy Zero, which has no monthly account fee.
“As at March 2021, we saw a 130% year on year increase in customers who upgraded from eWallet send money to FNB Easy Zero,” says Nqala. “Easy Zero account holders get a free debit card, free card swipes, free cash deposits up to R1 500 per month, and are not charged a fee when buying airtime/data via FNB’s banking channels. Customers also get free unlimited Cash@Till withdrawals at retailers such as Shoprite, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Boxer and selected Spar stores. The FNB App is also zero-rated, which means users do not require data to access services.”