New plans for Bank Zero
Lesaka Technologies has revealed its plans to introduce Bank Zero to its platform after it acquired the digital bank for R1.1 billion in late June 2025.
Lesaka says the move will consolidate its digital infrastructure into one scalable technology stack and add full banking capabilities to its fintech offering.
It will also help accelerate Bank Zero’s organic growth, while broadening and improving Lesaka’s value proposition for consumers and merchants.
According to Lesaka, the integration will expand revenue opportunities, strengthen its balance sheet, and, subject to approval, enable it to launch financial exchange products to open cross-border opportunities.
Lesaka says introducing Bank Zero to its platform will improve its existing value proposition, thanks to the following:
- Consolidation to a modern and proprietary core banking platform for consumers;
- The reduction of third-party dependencies;
- Revised sponsorship banking fees; and,
- Access to float revenue from a combined deposit base.
The move will also augment and expand Lesaka’s product portfolio by enabling a cross-sell banking offering to merchants and providing alliance banking solutions for enterprise customers.
Regarding Lesaka’s balance sheet optimisation, it expects to observe financial growth in lending books through customer deposits, driving stronger lending economics.
It also anticipates reducing the use of bank debt in its consumer and merchant divisions, which could assist in deleveraging Lesaka’s gross debt by more than R1 billion.
“This would lead to <1x Net Debt / Group Adjusted EBITDA, assuming successful consolidation,” it said.
Lesaka highlighted that Bank Zero’s management team, comprising chair Michael Jordaan, CEO Yatin Narsai, Liné Wild, and Lézanne Human, hold extensive banking expertise.
It should be noted that its acquisition of Bank Zero is pending regulatory approval from the Prudential Authority and the South African Reserve Bank, as well as other customary closing conditions.
In late June 2025, Lesaka Technologies revealed that it had entered into an agreement to acquire 100% of Bank Zero’s issued ordinary shares.
The acquisition consideration will be settled through a combination of newly issued shares and up to R91 million in cash. As a result, Bank Zero shareholders will own roughly 12% of Lesaka’s diluted shares.
Digital bank built from the ground up with a focus on efficiency
Jordaan, Narsai, Wild, Human, and three others co-founded Bank Zero seven years ago. It is 45% black-owned and 20% women-owned.
The bank was registered with the South African Reserve Bank in 2018 and launched in 2021. It offers low rates for personal and business banking customers.
Bank Zero uses IBM Z mainframe computers and LinuxONE as a secure platform to protect against data breaches with IBM’s Secure Service Container. Since launch, the bank has recorded zero losses to fraud.
It doesn’t have physical bank branches and is fully digital, with all banking completed through its mobile app available on Android and iOS.
Bank Zero was built from the ground up with efficiency as a key priority, giving it the freedom to grow gradually without aggressive marketing.
Its original focus was proving its unique problem-solving concept of a patented card immune to fraud and phishing.
Bank Zero said the strategy had attracted a disproportionate number of businesses and high-income earners to its platform.
“These higher-value target segments provide healthy and steady growth,” Bank Zero said.
Another key target is the segment of digitally-savvy banking customers seeking fraud-immune and straightforward banking solutions.
Bank Zero recently reported that deposits, card purchases, and electronic payments were increasing consistently, with year-on-year growth of over 50%.
Bank Zero has recorded deposits of roughly R400 million. For the year ending December 2024, card spending totalled R415 million across its customer base.
“We’re now tracking ahead of plan with expected break-even by 2027. Our challenge is to try and get there much sooner,” it said.
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