The South African banking sector is poised for further disruption as one of the world’s largest digital banks, Revolut, prepares to enter the local market.
The London-headquartered fintech Revolut is driving an expansion into emerging markets following last Wednesday’s announcement that it will launch a payments platform in India.
Founded in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko, Revolut started out offering a prepaid card with low-fee foreign exchange services. It has since evolved to a full-fledged financial “super app”.
Revolut tailors its offering to different segments in each of its 160 operating markets, sometimes offering a lean portfolio resembling a fintech and at other times offering a full banking suite.
Its business banking product provides multi-currency accounts with corporate cards and expense management tools. It also offers insurance and lifestyle services including travel insurance, device insurance and perks like airport lounge access.
The move to enter the Indian market comes just weeks after Revolut signalled its intention to pursue a formal banking licence in South Africa. Its local operations will be led by CEO Jacques Meyer. A launch date has not yet been announced.
“South Africans are ready for a new approach to banking. The market is primed for disruption, and we see a clear opportunity to bring our product expertise and customer-first approach to a country that is hungry for innovation,” Meyer said in a statement at the time.
Digital banking showdown
TechCentral first reported on Revolut’s intention to enter the local market in May. Details of Revolut South Africa’s product suite are yet to be revealed, but its offering in Europe includes multi-currency accounts, fee-free currency exchange, stock and commodity trading, and cryptocurrency trading. That differs starkly to the offering by South African digital banking pioneer TymeBank, whose services mostly target the underbanked and unbanked portions of the population.
But there is another digital challenger in South Africa already occupying some of the space Revolut tends to play in in its other markets, and that is Discovery Bank. In a post-results interview with TechCentral in September, Discovery Bank CEO Hylton Kallner said foreign exchange and multi-currency accounts are already offered by the bank – with cryptocurrencies also being explored.
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Meanwhile, Old Mutual’s digital banking offering is in the works, and its marketing promises similar benefits to what Revolut is known for, with words like “transparency” and “no hidden fees” being prominent features.
While competition in the digital banking space is set to intensify, the so-called traditional banks are not resting on their laurels. Absa, Capitec, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank have all been spending billions over several years to modernise core banking systems, allowing them to develop greater agility to fend off new digital upstarts.
A recent Deloitte Consulting report titled Unlocking Africa’s Banking Potential cited modernised internal systems as a key competitive advantage in markets like South Africa’s that are increasingly being proliferated by agile fintech players offering financial services alongside their core propositions. MTN’s MoMo and Vodacom’s M-Pesa are good examples of this strategy. Fintechs can respond to customer demands quickly and offer products and services better suited to customer needs at lower cost.
“Becoming a licensed bank will allow us to bring a full suite of products to market and ensure we become the go-to financial app for millions of South Africans,” said Meyer.
Emerging markets are seen as the next frontier for growth across various industries, including retail, communications and renewable energy. For companies in the financial sector, targeting the millions of economically active but unbanked populations across Africa, the Middle East and Asia via low-cost business models is seen as key to driving financial inclusion and fostering economic growth in untapped markets.
Revolut’s impending South African launch is seen as a foundation for a larger African push. Given the differences in its strategies between India (payments platform) and South Africa (full-fledged banking licence), it is likely offerings in markets including Nigeria and Kenya will differ too once those markets are launched.
According to the statement, the company aims to be one of the top three financial apps in every market it enters, with 30 new markets planned for expansion between now and 2030.
On Friday, Revolut announced it had received authorisation to establish Revolut Bank Colombia S.A. from Colombia’s financial regulatory authority, marking the first of two steps in the local licensing process.
Read: Digital bank Revolut is eyeing a South African launch
“Now live across Europe, the UK, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore and the US, Revolut is making significant progress on licensing in key regions. In Latin America, the company expects to launch as a bank in Mexico early next year and is also moving forward with plans to enter Colombia and Argentina,” said Revolut in the statement. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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