The start of the digital/online era
To further streamline banking for 2 million customers, they joined the Internet market in 2008 by providing internet banking. Cellphone banking was made available to all clients a year later. They became the first bank in South Africa to offer biometric authentication by fingerprint scanning in branches out of concern for the security of their customers. Then, in 2009, they began deploying new biometric scanners in the USA that had been certified by the FBI. At the time, it was customary to only scan one fingerprint they did so.
“We have always had the drive to do things differently. For us, it’s about agility and innovation,” says Gerrie Fourie, Chief Executive Officer at Capitec. “Consistency, not complacency.” Challenging the norms. We’re looking forward to continuing to drive change within financial services in 2022 with several new digital products. “2009 also marked the year when they started to value simplicity highly. The cause? They felt it was crucial to further deconstruct the extremely complex financial sector to make banking more user-friendly and available to all customers. With 3.7 million customers by 2011, they began opening locations on Sundays. Three years later, the Capitec banking app was released, enabling our customers to conduct banking transactions at any time, anywhere.
Capitec built a name for itself by upending the banking industry in South Africa from the very beginning. They opened all of their branches an hour before the other banks, at 8 a.m. They stayed open later (until 5 pm), offering customers 67 more hours of banking every month. Later, in 2003, they introduced Global One, a service that provided customers with four free savings accounts connected to their primary savings account. Furthermore, it was the first savings account in history where you could choose a name. Assisting their clients in creating specific savings objectives and by being easily available, open, and reasonable, was one of the ways we aimed to make life simpler for them.
Online money reversal with Capitec: How to do it
sum sent can be disastrous. Mistakes in account names and numbers are only a couple of the factors that could result in incorrect transfers. While Capitec is not obligated to block such occurrences, a few steps can be taken to halt such illicit transfers. Any transfers that clients did not allow can be disputed using the bank’s available channels.
There are a few measures you must do if you ever find yourself needing to reverse your funds following a successful transfer. When conducting transactions and when making transfers, Capitec Bank recommends its clients exercise extreme caution and double-check the specifics of the funds.
- Start by opening the Capitec mobile banking app first
- Choose the correct transaction from the options provided in the list
- Go to Debit order
- Put in the PIN when the sign-in prompt comes up
- Go to the History menu and select the exact debit order ( in this case, it will be the EFT transaction) made in the past and needs to be reversed
- Choose the reason for the reversal. There is a list of potential reasons offered
- Select the agreement tab and click on it
- Click the submit button
- Wait for the bank to approve the reversal request, as the amount will then be credited to your account when successful
Launch of capitec App
It’s been close to a decade since Capitec Bank launched its remote Banking app for customers of its Global One banking division. This app gives a rising number of tech-savvy and app-hungry customers access to basic transactional capabilities on both feature phones and smartphones. Furthermore, the group had already had an average of slightly over 4,000 registrations every day in the first four days following the official launch.
With this change, Capitec followed the same digital path as the other “big four” South African banks, which in the past years launched digital mobile banking services. Capitec is promoting the app as a “mobile banking branch” that gives its customers access to basic transactions whenever and wherever they choose.
Global One customers must register for Internet and mobile banking to use the application. They must then activate the app in-branch using biometric data and conduct transactions using a PIN. Capitec looked to be oblivious to the trend in 2012 after Standard Bank and Nedbank put gasoline to the fire started by FNB in 2011 by marketing banking applications as a banking channel.
Erroneous Payment into the Wrong Recipient Account
When the sender enters incorrect account information, cash transfers to the wrong account or accidental money transfers can occasionally result from transaction errors. The sender is frequently at fault in this situation; the bank is not involved. Even so, the sender should do the following:
- Call or chat a Capitec agent and instruct them to stop or reverse the transaction verbally
- The gent will inform the customer/sender of the non-refundable R160 reversal charge, whether successful or not
- In case the recipient has withdrawn the sent cash, then there is nothing the bank can do to help the sender
- However, if the money has not been withdrawn, then Capitec will contact the recipient’s bank and initiate a reversal on your behalf
- The recipient’s bank will notify the owner of the mistake and put a hold on the recipient’s account until such a time when the wrongly sent cash has been reversed
- If the recipient has no issue with the sender’s claims, then the money can be reversed and expected to be completed within 14 days
Simplify banking. Live better
Capitec decided to mostly maintain our pricing from last year (2021) to aid its clients financially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. While their credit card monthly cost has remained at R40, Global One’s monthly admin fee is at a flat R5. Their varied clientele demonstrates that their philosophy of not excluding consumers based on income appeals to all South Africans. For this reason, they don’t offer separate banking tiers or benefits based on income. No matter how much money you make, the Global One admin charge is R5 per month (as long as your main savings account has at least R25 in it), and using your card to make purchases in-person or online is always free.
Rise of Digital Banking during the pandemic
Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 epidemic presented the greatest challenge since Capitec’s founding 20 years ago, but it also provided the banking industry with an opportunity to adapt and think differently. They observed a significant change in the way customers banked in 2020, which is why it was critical to improve their banking app proactively. They achieved this by creating a virtual card and by introducing new services, such as remote onboarding, which enables new customers to open an account at any time and from any location.
Documents can now be digitally signed using their new biometric eSignature service. This was the last stage in making the bank paperless. Six new product lines were also introduced by them, including an access facility that provides customers with revolving credit up to R500 000 and a full house loan offering in collaboration with SA Home Loans.
They’ve seen that they require a sizable branch network, a potent digital strategy, and sizable client involvement. Some customers prefer to transact entirely online, while others prefer to visit a branch. Both must be catered to. To do this, Capitec expanded its presence both physically and digitally, opening more than 840 Capitec branches around the country.
Customer happiness is still essential to a company. A dissatisfied client will leave. They must confirm that you properly comprehend and meet the needs of your clientele. They can be defeated if someone can perform the task more effectively. Consequently, companies invest a lot of time in learning about their consumers and what they want from a bank.
Understanding what their customers want and need has helped them increase the number of utilizing their digital platforms by 100,000 every month, bringing their total to 8.6 million. The number of clients at Capitec increased by an average of 160 000 each month over the past year, bringing the total to almost 16 million, making it the largest digital bank in South Africa.Capitec believes that the significant client growth they have experienced, especially in the past year, is evidence that their promise of straightforward, cheap banking given through individualized service is more important than ever.
Capitec Digital Adoption
In 2020, there was a huge increase in digital adoption, making it even more crucial to provide their customers with secure online transaction options during the COVID-19 epidemic. Capitec Introduced a biometric and virtual card eSignature solution that enables electronic signatures on papers. This was the last stage in making the bank paperless. Later on, in the same year, the bank collaborated with EasyEquities to offer their customers easy, affordable investments through their banking app. In just 4 months, more than 70 000 users registered for the EasyEquities widget on the banking app.
“We are proud to have created a bank for all South Africans,” says Fourie. “We believe that banking should fit effortlessly into our clients’ day-to-day lives, taking up as little time and money as possible. Therefore we created a simplified, affordable solution underpinned by industry-leading technology and personalised service that appeals to South Africans from all walks of life.”
Also Read: How to send and reverse FNB e-wallet
