Free instant payments drive GoTyme’s financial inclusion push - TimesLIVE
Patrice Motsepe-backed GoTyme Bank says it is making a dent in financial inclusion after doubling customer deposits to R5.8bn in 2026 in a crowded banking market.
Established seven years ago, GoTyme, which now serves 13-million customers, said offering free instant payments reinforces its commitment to making digital banking more accessible.
GoTyme reported a 25% increase in total income to R2.72bn, with net interest income growing 13% to R1.4bn.
CEO Cheslyn Jacobs told Business Times that since introducing free instant payments, GoTyme processed 26% of SA’s PayShap transactions monthly in a move that is not so much about having a competitive advantage than about promoting financial inclusion.
He said the group “sacrificed” R150m revenue this year for making the service free and with further sacrifices of more than R1bn going forward.
“We believe the benefits we see on all the other things will far outweigh that sacrifice, and we actually believe it will be the same for any other bank who follows us and does the same thing,” he said.
He wants the rest of the industry to follow GoTyme, highlighting that instant payments have the potential to unlock real economic growth for SA and to drop the barriers of digital participation.
Jacobs said competition was important in banking, with retail giant Pepkor aiming to offer banking services in 2027, Old Mutual’s OM Bank coming online and Revolut applying for a South African banking licence.
He said competition often forced people who were competitors to build better products, to reduce prices.
" The problem in South Africa is that there was too little competition for too long in banking and that is why we pay so much bank fees. So, we’re saying the more competition, the better. So, we’re paying lots of attention to all the new competitors coming in,“ he said.
In September, insurance giant Sanlam announced a joint credit venture with GoTyme to offer transactional banking services for the first time.
Jacobs said the partnership showed that while GoTyme was younger than many incumbents who have a long tenure, it demonstrated its strong growth trajectory.
“I wouldn’t argue Sanlam is taking a big bet. Sanlam is taking the best bet and Sanlam has chosen a partner that they believe complements them the most,” he said.
He said there were “massive” synergies between the two, given that Sanlam has a solid insurance footprint and GoTyme serves 13m customers.
“You put those two things together, suddenly what GoTyme Bank gets is the best insurer in the country, and what Sanlam gets is what we believe is the best bank in the country. They get to offer their core customers the best banking proposition in the market”.
GoTyme was voted the second most affordable digital bank in a study by Solidarity.
“There’s massive opportunity for both businesses to grow within the existing customer bases as well. So it’s a really exciting opportunity for all of us involved.”
The company is aiming to expand into business banking and has not yet prioritised a specific division yet, although it sees opportunity in that market.
“We still believe that there’s massive opportunity. Call it on the transactional banking for business. We haven’t got a date yet, so we still we’re still working on what that can look like. But the focus for GoTyme Bank is more around the lending part. ”
He said for too long, the number of people who could access formal credit hadn’t changed.
“Which means we’re not including more and more people into the credit ecosystem and we need to do that and the company is starting to do things very differently through offering products for people who have never had access to credit.”
GoTyme has previously announced it aims to be the most loved by 2030.
“We’re now the second most loved, so I don’t think 2030 is too far now to win. You know, so we’re going to push really hard to get there before then,” he said.
