Absa launches ChatBanking for Twitter
Ashley Veasey, Barclays Africa
South African banking heavyweight Absa has launched ChatBanking, the “first” service in Africa offering day-to-day banking from a Twitter account.
As part of the “initial offering”, ChatBanking provides “actual and available” balance on a transactional account; ability to buy airtime or data for a cellphone registered to their account; and get a mini-statement showing most recent transactions on their account.
In a “one-time only process”, people register in a “secure environment” which will link their Twitter profile to their Absa bank account.
Ashley Veasey, group CIO and chief digital officer at Barclays Africa (Absa is majority owned by Barclays), says the service allows customers to bank “without having to leave Twitter”.
ChatBanking will eventually be rolled out to other social media platforms.
Absa says in a recent study by global research firm Nielsen; Twitter is most often accessed “on the move” and “in the moment”, and is an everyday activity for most South Africans.
The study found that 61% of local users visit Twitter at least two to five times daily, with the average time spent on social media channels at around two hours and 43 minutes per day.
