GoTyme Bank targets branchless growth

TymeBank has rebranded to GoTyme Bank, with the company aiming for aggressive growth as customers increasingly choose multiple banks based on pricing, convenience and services – and no physical presence.

“By the year 2030, GoTyme Bank will be the most loved bank in South Africa,” said Cheslyn Jacobs, GoTyme Bank CEO, during a keynote in Johannesburg last week. “In SA, we are living through what we believe is a fundamental shift in banking. Across the world, and increasingly in SA, customers are preferring digital, branchless banks.”

GoTyme Bank serves 21-million customers globally, including 13-million in SA. The local figure, said Jacobs, effectively means one in every three eligible South Africans already banks with the company. More than one-million South Africans have migrated to the new GoTyme Bank app, including over 200,000 existing customers who had not used the previous version.

“We’re going to find 130-millions South Africans. We’re going to add a zero [to the 13-million], and we’ll turn that 21-million into 210-million customers across the world. That’s the essence of this business. We are ambitious.”

The bank has expanded a physical presence, with nearly 30 Customer Hubs operating in shopping centres across SA. GoTyme Bank plans to increase that number to around 100 locations.

“More interestingly, though, how people are choosing to bank is shifting exponentially.”

He said banking choices were historically influenced by family habits, with many people simply using the same bank as their parents. However, customer behaviour is now changing fundamentally as consumers become more selective about where they bank.

“Customers are no longer blindly loyal to one bank, and they’re not necessarily sticking around for years and years just for the sake of doing so. They’re going to choose where they want to do certain things. More and more customers are becoming multi-bank, not only in SA.”

Customers may choose to receive salaries in one account, save money in another and handle transactions through a different bank, depending on which products best suit specific needs at a given time. This changing behaviour, said Jacobs, is forcing banks to rethink products and customer experiences. Consumers are increasingly looking for banking that is more seamless and affordable.

GoTyme Bank launched in 2019 as SA’s first fully digital bank, introducing zero monthly fees for customers. The bank offers a zero-fee account, free instant payments up to R5,000, no fees on international card swipes or subscription payments, and savings options that can reach up to 10% under certain conditions. GoTyme Bank reached profitability at the end of 2024, becoming the first digital bank on the African continent to do so.

“None of these successes happen overnight,” said Jacobs. “They happen because we are disciplined. We build with intention, and we build with our customer in mind always.”

GoTyme Bank’s global structure, he said, gives the company access to shared technology and operational scale. Over the last three years, the bank has added more than 150,000 new customers on average each month, while transaction volumes increased by more than 140% over the same period. The bank has expanded its cash-in and cash-out network to more than 200,000 points.

Marin Cundall, GoTyme Bank managing executive for digital experience, said: “To deliver on the [big] ambition, we knew we had to start with a banking platform and app experience, so we redesigned, rebuilt and relaunched, not just to make it look pretty, but as a step change in how customers experience banking with us. We set out to build a world class banking app for SA that is led by how customers actually want to interact with their bank, and built a banking platform that can scale to the world. We listened to customers who told us banking fields cluttered, too many tabs, too many hidden fees and too little control. So we thought, what if banking focused on the basics, but did them beautifully.”

The redesigned app includes biometric authentication for sign-ins and account creation, alongside simplified payment flows aimed at reducing friction for customers. Users can send money to bank accounts or cellphone numbers through a single payment journey, while major contactless payment options including Apple Pay have also been integrated. Customers can manage cards, reset PINs and control payment features directly through the app, which also includes self-service and chat support tools.

* Visit the GoTyme Bank website here.

* Jason Bannier is a data analyst at World Wide Worx and deputy editor of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Bluesky at @jas2bann.