OVERVIEW
Banking and financial services Banking choices are expanding very quickly.
T
he first new banking licence in nearly two decades was issued in 2017, to TymeDigital by Commonwealth Bank SA. The bank will have no physical branches although Tyme’s Money Transfer product, which it launched in 2016, is available at Boxer and Pick n Pay. African Rainbow Capital is the venture’s BEE partner. The banking licence is the first to be issued since Capitec was granted a licence by the South African Reserve Bank in 1999. In a province with a high proportion of rural citizens such as the Limpopo, the prospect of Postbank being upgraded to a full-service bank is positive news. The current Postbank focusses on taking deposits and savings accounts. Postbank has secured a R3.7-billion loan to enable it to open its own loan book. The large geographical footprint of the Post Office will make the bank easily accessible to even remote parts of the country. Two other state-owned enterprises are looking to create banks, The Ithala Development Finance Corporation is an enterprise funder in KwaZulu-Natal that has applied for a banking licence. At national level, LIMPOPO BUSINESS 2019/20
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SECTOR INSIGHTS South African businesses are lining up to register new banking licences. there is a plan to create a Human Settlements Development Bank. The focus will be on financing housing for poorer households and for large state-funded housing projects. Part of the drive is to integrate cities better and to combat the legacy of the spatial divide that apartheid left behind. The Limpopo Economic Development Agency intends
