Postbank passes first hurdle on road to becoming a proper bank

folarin okunola

July 12, 2016 12:41 PM

Essentially, this means that Postbank will be able to offer more than just savings account as it will now have the power to offer banking cards and other services.

Lesetja Kganyago, Governor of the Reserve Bank of South Africa, poses for a photo in the Manhattan borough of New York October 6, 2015.

South Africa is not waiting for the rest of Africa to keep up anymore. Africa's most industrialized economy will soon grant a level of banking power to its Post Office.

South Africa's finance sector is already very competitive as it is, but the South Africa Reserve Bank has already approved the SA Post Office's first application for a banking license for a new platform called Postbank.

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Media reports out of South Africa say officials expect the next and final level for the license to be completed within the next 12 months.

For other steps, Postbank's board members will have to give approval as well as transfer of business from SAPO to the new company.

“I think we are coming closer to that realisation,” said Siyabonga Cwele, Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Service at a media briefing in Houghton, Johannesburg. “It should be clear that this bank is not in competition with commercial banks.”

Apart from what this means for the South African fintech space, this could also be a step closer to the governments realization of a state bank.

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