Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie has expressed greater concern about competition from mobile telecommunications operators and international digital payment providers like Apple and Samsung than from local banking competitors.
Capitec more concerned about Apple Pay than local bank competition
In an interview with News24, Fourie discussed the evolving landscape of mass-market retail banking and the growing threat from non-banking players.
While acknowledging the presence of local banking competitors such as Discovery Bank, Old Mutual, and TymeBank, Fourie emphasised that the competitive field extends beyond traditional banking institutions.
He highlighted the potential challenges posed by global giants like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, Google Pay, and Garmin Pay, as well as digital wallet offerings from telecommunications companies like Vodacom and MTN.
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Additionally, Fourie mentioned the digital payment capabilities of platforms such as WeChat, with its extensive user base, and Meta Pay, which spans Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
Capitec’s CEO underscored the need to closely monitor international players entering the South African market, citing their strong global brands as a key factor of concern.
“More and more players are going into the transactional side. An interesting question is the deposit side because the moment you take deposits you need to be regulated. The moment you take deposits, you lend normally, and when you lend, you take on risk,” he said.
He mentioned his dedication to understanding developments in this space, emphasising that these emerging players could introduce new dynamics to the financial services sector in South Africa.
Despite this focus on expanding competition in the digital payments arena, Capitec has recently faced its own challenges, with customer frustrations related to system outages and technical issues.
Capitec Bank experienced an outage on Tuesday, 26 September 2023, disrupting mobile app access, online banking, and transactions for users. This incident marked the third outage of the year, with previous disruptions in March and August.
