Challenger South African digital bank TymeBank on Wednesday announced that it is acquiring Retail Capital, a fintech company that offers finance to small and medium enterprises.
The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals, will see Retail Capital become a division of TymeBank and the “foundation” of the bank’s expanded business banking offering, it said. TymeBank is majority owned by Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital.
The value of the deal was not disclosed. “Retail Capital’s funding expertise and TymeBank’s deposit base and operations [will be] combined to serve a broader customer base… TymeBank believes being able to channel funding efficiently to business owners in South Africa is critical to the expansion of the historically underserved small business sector.
“This acquisition will allow TymeBank to expand its offering to entrepreneurs to include working capital finance. Retail Capital has acquired significant risk management experience over the past decade and through different economic cycles. They have an experienced team in place and their risk models and operational processes have been battle-tested and optimised to a significant degree for small-business funding,” the bank said in a statement.
TymeBank’s business banking offering already has more than 100 000 customers. The service includes a transactional business account with no monthly bank fees, free debit card and online purchase transactions, and free bulk payments.
Retail Capital, led by CEO Karl Westvig, provides funding to SMEs through an easy, three-step online application process. In the last 10 years, it provided more about 43 000 business owners with R5.5-billion in working capital.
‘Scale the offering’
“Through this acquisition by TymeBank, we will be able to scale the offering, giving SMEs the opportunity to expand through funding that works on their terms,” said Westvig in the statement.
Tyme Group, through its multi-country digital banking presence, will also enable Retail Capital’s international expansion into other markets.
Also on Wednesday, TymeBank launched TymePOS, a mobile point-of-sale app for Android that turns an NFC-enabled cellphone into a tap-and-go payment device that offers next-day settlement. – © 2022 NewsCentral Media
