As the world takes base in this technological era, it becomes clearer that the future of banking is digital. Fintechs continue to deconstruct the traditional banking system, and future-focused financial industries are joining the bandwagon. Brick and mortar banks now understand the importance of incorporating digital banking solutions into their financial services to stay afloat. In 2020, bank digitization was strengthened as a strategy to reduce person-to-person contact and although it was in response to a global pandemic, digital banking has now become the new normal and is likely to gain more prominence in the future.
In the African arena, technological growth and funding have increased nine times what they were in the past five years. In 2021, tech startups in the continent raised close to $5 billion, and as reported by Briter Bridges, African fintechs took the larger chunk of the investment at $3 billion, tripling the amount invested in 2019.
As this new fintech space unravels in Africa, companies try to think innovatively and transformatively to take advantage of the global shift. The process proves to be easier for already established banks with the funding to support their transition. However, smaller, and often overlooked financial institutions like credit unions, microfinance banks, and small and medium businesses (SMB’s) have found this change particularly challenging due to the tedious process involved.
Bankingly’s entrance into the African market is tailored to solve this problem by enabling inclusivity and financial health equally in Africa with simple and smart digital banking solutions.
Founded in 2015, Bankingly is a fintech company with the vision of transforming the way in which financial institutions in emerging markets promote their digital channels and, therefore, facilitate the financial inclusion of millions of people around the world. The provision of technologies hosted in the cloud, with a SaaS business model based on the number of active users that each institution achieves, allows Bankingly clients to adjust their costs to the benefits achieved. Through a brief, optimized implementation process with high functionality and cybersecurity standards, the Bankingly platform offers a mobile application, a transactional website, a chatbot, and other multiple products. Today, more than 1,500,000 people from nearly 100 entities trust Bankingly’s technology.
According to the Fintech Times’ 2021 report on the Middle East and Africa, South Africa is considered to be a top contributor to the fintech industry in the wider Middle East & Africa (MEA) landscape. These statistics show the rise of the fintech industry in Africa.
Concurrently, we understand that South Africa along with other African countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Mauritius, Ghana, and Tunisia was ranked tops in the tier-2 category – with Rwanda, Morocco, and Uganda as “emerging countries” in the tier-3 early-stage fintech hub category.
The South African financial market is one of the largest and its major city Johannesburg is home to leading banks in Africa including Standard Bank Group and Absa Group making it attractive to the growing fintech market.
These larger traditional banks across the country now partner with fintechs to build digital platforms that enable access to banking services globally. But the question of inclusivity comes in and Bankingly has identified this gap. In response, they provide the same high-quality digital platforms for smaller financial institutions, therefore bridging the gap. Their goal to create simple, smart, and accessible solutions will help aid the growth of financial inclusion not just in South Africa but in Africa as a whole.
That is why Bankingly’s aim remains to fill these gaps in the financial sphere and bring more people into the digital economy.
Bankingly’s solutions are simple but smart. They focus on democratizing people’s access to their money and better services, regardless of their resources or location. They are currently operating in eight African countries: South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, Zambia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Uganda, and Morocco to ensure that financial inclusion reaches all sectors of society.
Bankingly collaborates with banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions to provide banking services to accelerate financial inclusion through great digital experiences. They provide minority banks, MFBs, and credit unions amongst others with mobile banking apps, and web banking platforms to improve digitization in the African economy.
As the world is taking disruptive turns in technology, they provide training and awareness campaigns on the importance of digitizing financial institutions and building a financially inclusive economy.
Through their all-in-one platform, customers will be able to check balances and movements, make internal, national, and international transfers, check and pay loans, check, and pay cards, pay for different services, make fixed-term deposits, and request a new product among other numerous functionalities.
Bankingly’s value proposition stands out from its competitors by providing pay per real usage, a pricing model based on the number of monthly active users, and unbeatable time to market as their solutions are not only simple and smart but also fast, safe, and of high quality. Bankingly runs a simple and easy-to-use management system, 24/7 customer support, and flexible customizations.
With over 100 financial institutions subscribed in Latin America and Africa to its SaaS platform, Bankingly is quickly becoming South Africa’s choice for banking services.
If you would like to learn more about the services they offer, you can visit their website here. If you would like to build a more responsive banking app or web platform, you can also request a demo.