Customers of GoTyme Bank – the digital lender formerly known as TymeBank – face a double change as the company completes its rebrand and migrates users onto an overhauled banking app.
Speaking to TechCentral at the bank’s rebrand launch event in Johannesburg last week, GoTyme Bank CEO Cheslyn Jacobs was candid about the risk that the changes will drive customers away, arguing that those who stay will be able to “do more”.
“Is there a risk of migration? We think if we do our jobs the way we’ve planned, our worst-case scenario is about 10% churn,” Jacobs said. “Now you’ll say, ‘But jeez, if you’re going to churn 10%, why do it?’ I think what we’ve done will let the other 90% do way more than what we lose, because we have packed bucketloads of utility into the new app.”
GoTyme says it has just over 13 million customers in South Africa, which means 10% churn would equate to the loss of about 1.3 million people. That headline customer number warrants scrutiny, however. By Jacobs’ own account, 20% of the 13 million accounts are dormant: 16% of the total have never transacted at all, and a further 4% have wound down their activity to the point where the bank classifies them as inactive.
On those figures, GoTyme’s genuinely active base is closer to 10.4 million. Jacobs said the new app’s features were reviving interest among some dormant users.
The revamped app has been available on Google Play and the Apple App Store since January. Jacobs said just over 1.15 million of GoTyme’s South African customers had migrated so far. Alongside the new branding and logo, the bank has reworked its in-app customer journeys to simplify the experience.
Single flow
The app collapses what was previously a cluttered menu of payment types into a single flow that defaults, where possible, to free PayShap instant payments. Transfers under R5 000 to any local bank account are instant and free. GoalSave remains the headline product, offering up to 10 separate savings pockets, no minimum balance and daily interest. Biometric authentication, at times including a selfie check, is required at sign-on. Internet banking is being phased out: customers who have logged in within the past 90 days keep access, while all others are funnelled to the app.
The default to PayShap is among the most significant changes. PayShap payments have been free for the bank’s customers since August 2023. Jacobs said GoTyme now processes 25% of all PayShap transactions in the market and that its pricing approach had pushed costs down sector-wide – claims that reflect the bank’s own assessment of its position.
Read: TymeBank is getting a new name
“We’re the youngest bank in tenure and we already have 25% of the pie,” Jacobs said. “PayShap has immense utility. If you look at what instant payments have done in Brazil and India, they are adding 2% to GDP – we (South Africa) would accept 2% total growth.”
The name change aligns the South African brand with the group’s international operations, which include Indonesia and the Philippines.
GoTyme spokeswoman Pontsho Ramontsha said the aim was a unified identity as the group expands, including into other African markets. Ethiopia, she said, has market dynamics like South Africa, while Nigeria and Kenya are served by other models such as cryptocurrencies and mobile money.
The app overhaul follows a repositioning of GoTyme’s kiosk strategy in March, which moved the bank away from single units inside Pick n Pay and TFG stores towards larger open spaces in shopping malls. The bank has earmarked 100 of these hubs for completion by the end of June.
Read: TymeBank ditches Pick n Pay kiosks for mall-based customer hubs
The kiosks, staffed by trained customer service agents, remain GoTyme’s most human point of contact. Jacobs said that, in theory, the agents are not strictly necessary, since the full functionality is available digitally through both the kiosks and the app. In practice, he said, most South African customers begin onboarding at a kiosk before moving to the app – the reverse of the pattern in more digitally mature markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines.
For all the emphasis on a digital-first product, then, GoTyme’s South African growth still depends on a physical, staffed front door – and on persuading the 90% it expects to keep that the new app is worth the disruption. – © 2026 NewsCentral Media
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