South Africas Nedbank will launch a mobile banking app suite that the bank has promised will deliver a wide range of solutions to its customers
The Nedbank App Suite will work on feature phones as well as smartphones and will allow users to make transactions online.
The app will have a number of built-in functionalities including a calculator, the ability to make calls and other financial aids. Mobile security technology firm Entersekt has partnered with Nedbank in developing the app.
The bank has also said that it will soon launch a financial management and planning application, which will follow the launch of its share trading app for Nedbank staff.
Nedbank chief executive officer Mike Brown said, “We have about a 20 per cent footprint or market share in Johannesburg and Durban, and less market share in the less populated areas in South Africa. We are not going to catch up in the footprint by this launch, but we needed to plan strongly in the mobile space, which is a great strategy driver for us.”
Speaking about the planning of the app, Nedbank chief information officer, Fred Swanepoel, said that Nedbank had started planning the app about two years ago.
Swanepoel remarked, “We have spent a considerable amount of time planning this journey, so that we will be able to adapt to how the future plays out.”
Entersekt chief technology officer Christiaan Brand noted, “It is important for the technology to identify the correct user and sender. That is why authentication is very important.
“The technology we used for the app doesn’t rely on the phone’s internal cryptography. It no longer relies on the mobile network operator’s phone number and allows the creation of digital signatures,” he added.