Bank records cellphone banking transactions worth millions in Namibia

The result, says FNB, was a furiously frantic festive season. In December 2007, the channel achieved more than 40,000 in cellphone banking transactions off a customer base of over 12,000.

Len Pienaar, Head of FNB's Mobile and Transact Solutions in South Africa, said the bank was delighted with the channel's success in the country, with figures far beyond initial projections.

The bank attributed the phenomenal growth of the channel's activity this past festive season to the proliferation of cellphone banking customers and the increased comfort of cellphone owners with conducting banking transactions on their cellphones.

“To date, the bank has concentrated its focus on getting cellphone banking services accepted by addressing customers' concerns around ease of use, affordable access to the service, and safety. Word of mouth support by customers using Cellphone banking is fast becoming the best form of advertising.”

“Through this exercise, we are turning improved market awareness of cellphone banking into customer behaviour that embraces the technology as a convenient banking channel.”

This growth is mirrored in South Africa with more than double the transaction value of the same time the previous year.

With cellphone banking in Namibia you can:
• Buy MTC prepaid airtime for yourself or someone else
• View a list of your most recent prepaid airtime purchases
• Check balances on one or all of your accounts
• Get a mini statement (reflects last five transactions)
• Transfer money between your own FNB accounts
• Make third party payments
• Receive real time confirmation of financial transactions (inContact)
• Maintain your cellphone banking details