TymeBank is engaged in discussions with the department of home affairs and its minister, Leon Schreiber, after the parties’ very public spat over a big hike in the fees to access a critical government database.
This comes about six weeks after TymeBank warned it was considering legal action in an effort to stop home affairs from implementing the huge increases in the fees companies must pay to verify their clients’ identities.
TymeBank co-founder Coen Jonker – who now serves as CEO of the bank’s parent company, Tyme Group – told TechCentral in June that the move by home affairs to jack up the fees would harm financial inclusion in South Africa by making it more difficult to serve low-income customers.
Now the parties are engaged in discussions, according to TymeBank, which was responding to a query from TechCentral.
“TymeBank confirms that we are engaging with the minister of home affairs and the department of home affairs in good faith, with the shared goal of finding a sustainable and inclusive solution to the proposed changes in identity verification fees,” the bank said.
“Our position remains clear: identity verification is a foundational step in enabling financial inclusion. It must be secure, affordable and accessible to all, particularly the millions of South Africans who are currently excluded from formal financial services,” it said.
“A pricing model that supports this principle is essential to ensuring no one is left behind. We continue to advocate for a real-time verification system that can reliably support high transaction volumes, as is required by regulated financial institutions serving large and diverse customer bases.”
‘A regressive tax’
Schreiber and his department have drawn fire from TymeBank, telecommunications operators and other industry players, who have warned that the price hikes – which took effect on 1 July – are not only gratuitous but will have unintended consequences in the fight against crime and in serving the poorest South Africans with financial, telecoms and other services.
Legislation such as Fica (the Financial Intelligence Centre Act) and Rica (the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-related Information Act) requires banks, telecoms providers and other consumer-facing entities to verify their clients’ IDs against the home affairs database in an effort to fight money laundering and other white-collar crime.
Read: TymeBank: Why we’re taking on home affairs
But accessing the home affairs database now costs R10/query for real-time ID verifications of the National Population Register, which Jonker told TechCentral would take South Africa from among the most affordable markets in the world for this type of service to one of the most expensive. Until the price hike tool effect, companies had paid as little as 15c/query.
Home affairs now also offers overnight batch processing at R1/query – still a big increase from the 15c previously – to will allow companies to better manage their costs. However, Jonker said fintechs like TymeBank, unlike the big banks, have built their business models based on affordable access to real-time ID verification.
“This is not just a policy shift – it’s a regressive tax on the most vulnerable South Africans. It undermines the progress we’ve made towards digital inclusion, weakens the financial sector’s ability to comply with anti-money laundering laws and risks reversing efforts to exit the Financial Action Task Force grey list,” Jonker wrote in an open letter to Schreiber in June.
Schreiber immediately hit back on social media, calling Jonker’s open letter “faux outrage” and accusing TymeBank of “profiting over people”.
TymeBank on Tuesday intimated that it could still consider the legal route if its talks with Schreiber and home affairs aren’t resolved to its satisfaction.
Read: Home affairs to roll out restaurant-style self-service kiosks
“While we remain committed to dialogue and partnership, we also reserve our right to take appropriate action should a resolution not be achieved that fairly balances public infrastructure objectives with inclusive access for all citizens. We will issue further updates as discussions progress,” the bank said. – © 2025 NewsCentral Media
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