Discovery step closer to obtaining banking licence
New retail bank coming to South Africa
South Africa’s insurance group Discovery has received the green light from the regulators to set up a bank – the anticipation is that a banking licence will be granted within a year.
Discovery plans to launch a brand new full-service retail bank in South Africa, based on the “behavioural” model Discovery uses to reward its life and health insurance customers for their lifestyle choices.
It has allocated ZAR 2.1 billion ($153 million) to the project, Banking Technology understands.
As part of this ambition, it acquired the majority stake in its credit card unit – Discovery Card – from FirstRand Bank. Discovery Card has 250,000+ customers.
Discovery also went to market for the new bank’s technology, as reported exclusively by Banking Technology. It is understood that SAP, Infosys and Oracle FSS have bid for the project. The selection results are yet to be unveiled.
