“Cellphone Banking has truly come of age in South Africa and is now becoming the preferred choice of banking. The high adoption rates we’ve experienced show that it’s a trusted and convenient channel for customers to perform a wide range of transactions from checking balances to buying prepaid airtime and LOTTO tickets or paying bills”, said Len Pienaar, CEO of FNB mCommerce.
This growth was expected during December 2009, as most customers are away from home and work and don’t have access to traditional banking channels, added Pienaar. Furthermore, the introduction of Send Money service in November, a solution allowing FNB customers to instantly transfer money to anyone with a South African cellphone number, resulted in R6 million in December alone.
Another service that boosted FNB Cellphone Banking last year was the purchasing of LOTTO tickets via cellphones, with more than 150 000 tickets sold in December.
