Absa beta version goes live

The overhaul, which has been in development for two years, represents a distinct step-change from what was a purely transactional online service to a comprehensive suite of transactional and non-transactional services, as well as tools to manage one's monthly spend better and assist with financial planning. At present, the online service processes one-trillion Rand in transaction values per year.

"Absa Online and Absa Online for Business are designed to offer customers a single view of their financial affairs - a portal to one's entire financial world," explains Arrie Rautenbach, head of retail markets at Absa.

"By providing this consolidated, dashboard view, we are putting the customer in control and empowering them to make the right financial decisions, budget more effectively, and unlock new opportunities for growth. The bank's online customers hold investments and assets totalling trillions of rand."

This week's launch is merely the first phase. "There are a number of innovations planned for later in 2012 designed to further refine the personal financial management capabilities and give customers an even richer banking experience."

The service has also been designed specifically with Apple and Samsung tablet devices in mind - meaning it will function intuitively with these touch-technology devices. It is expected to stimulate a renewed increase in online banking registrations and activity levels, as customers gain familiarity with the new functionality and the ease-of-use.

"The development saw up to 140 individuals, working across three continents, putting in 450 000 man-hours of development work. Four million lines of code were written in this, a 'first-of-its-kind' technology deployment in South Africa," he concludes.