Bank Zero was announced in January 2018<\/a><\/strong> after it was evaluated by the South African Reserve Bank and granted a provisional mutual bank licence.<\/p>\n The app-driven bank is the brainchild of tech entrepreneur Michael Jordaan and banking innovator Yatin Narsai, two figures well known for spearheading FNB\u2019s digital banking transformation.<\/p>\n Its core value proposition was offering a bank account with no monthly subscription fee and lower transaction costs than conventional banking accounts.<\/p>\n Bank Zero does not rely on the traditional banking structures of established banks like head offices, branches, and numerous employees.<\/p>\n Instead, it runs entirely on an app, intending to put digital interaction and communication front and centre.<\/p>\n To access cash, customers can use any ATM or cash out at major local retailers.<\/p>\n Michael Jordaan, Bank Zero co-founder<\/p><\/div>\n Initially, Jordaan said Bank Zero would \u201chopefully\u201d launch in late 2018.<\/p>\n In October 2018, the bank announced<\/a><\/strong> it had integrated with SARB\u2019s national payments system, allowing it to begin alpha testing with a small team validating its end-to-end live systems and processes.<\/p>\n Limited testing among its staff<\/a><\/strong> began in March 2019, with a soft launch date to the public planned for the second half of 2019.<\/p>\n This date was revised to 2020, with Narsai, the bank’s CEO, stating that the Bank Zero team did not want the additional complexity of a soft launch to interfere with the focus on the wider launch of the bank.<\/p>\n In November 2019<\/a><\/strong>, Bank Zero announced its patented debit card had gone live to\u00a0undergo rigorous security and system trials through simulated card attacks and card fraud detection tests.<\/p>\n In May 2020, Jordaan told MyBroadband<\/strong><\/a> that Bank Zero was planning to launch a controlled beta to the public in the second half of 2020, which went live in September.<\/p>\n With its official launch coming more than three and a half years after its announcement, Bank Zero is now facing tough competition from banks who have responded with similar low-cost products.<\/p>\n For example, TymeBank, which launched around a year after Bank Zero got its mutual banking licence, has its EveryDay Account with no monthly fees, account initiation fees, card issuing fees, or card usage fees.<\/p>\n It also provides a savings tool that lets users create 10 saving accounts and earn up to 7% interest.<\/p>\n FNB and Nedbank also offer zero-monthly fee accounts with their respective Easy Zero and Pay-as-you-use products.<\/p>\n The former allows customers to open a bank account in a few minutes via a USSD shortcode.<\/p>\n Capitec also lets customers create a bank account with a virtual credit card using only its app.<\/p>\n In addition, the other two big banks, Absa and Standard Bank, also offer pay-as-you-use type accounts for less than R5 per month.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n While Bank Zero is a latecomer to the South African digital banking space, it remains confident that its value proposition will be good enough to convince new customers to sign up.<\/p>\n While it charges no monthly fees and no fees on payments, statements, or buying prepaid data, airtime, and electricity, Bank Zero co-founder Lezanne Human previously told MyBroadband that pricing would not be the bank’s “main thing”<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Human said Bank Zero\u2019s superior functionality and its easy-to-understand offering were some of its biggest selling points.<\/p>\n Narsai has also listed key aspects outside of pricing that will set Bank Zero apart, including:<\/p>\n In addition to these features, Bank Zero also said that it offers clients greater control over debit orders and online purchases.<\/p>\n Card skimming fraud is not possible because Bank Zero said it rejects any swipe transactions. If you try to swipe your card at a payment terminal, you will be prompted to tap or dip your card instead.<\/span><\/p>\n For online purchases, Bank Zero requires that you\u00a0authorise every transaction in the app.<\/p>\n The bank said this combats card-not-present fraud if a criminal gets hold of your card details and tries to make online purchases with it.<\/span><\/p>\n To combat rogue debit orders, Bank Zero said it would alert you about new debit orders in the app and via email and allow you to reject them.<\/span><\/p>\n It will also warn you when a debit order is about to run, and there isn’t enough money in your account.<\/span><\/p>\n “You have until the next business day to fund your account. If we return your debit order as unpaid, a nuisance fee will be charged,” Bank Zero stated.<\/span><\/p>\n “With this feature, you never need those expensive overdrafts.”<\/span><\/p>\n Bank Zero’s fees are summarised in the table below.<\/p>\n More than three years after it was originally announced, Bank Zero officially began a “throttled” launch on Tuesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":380928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10106],"tags":[48295,24410,35,6204,23511,48474],"class_list":["post-409104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-bank-zero","tag-digital-banking","tag-headline","tag-michael-jordaan","tag-south-african-reserve-bank-sarb","tag-yatin-narsai"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409104"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409104"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":409150,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409104\/revisions\/409150"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/380928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"michael-jordaan\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Michael-Jordaan.jpg\")
![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Digital-banks-Discovery-Tyme-Zero.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Bank-Zero-card-on-smartphone-angle.jpg\")
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\n \nBank Zero pricing – “Banking should be free”<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n \n Activity<\/strong><\/td>\n Price<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Monthly fee on account<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Minimum balance in any account<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Notifications on all banking activities<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Open more savings or notice accounts<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Transfer money between own accounts<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Pay recipient at another bank<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Pay recipient at Bank Zero<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Pay recipient at Bank Zero using their QR code<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Pay by debit order<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Pay by card<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Buy prepaid data, airtime, electricity, etc<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Send proof of payment via email<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Receive monthly statement via email or download<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Request previous statements within 3 months<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Request account confirmation letter<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Set up new business profile<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n SendMoney to Bank Zero recipient using their cell number (up to R3,000)<\/td>\n R0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Third-party costs are passed on to you<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n \n Activity<\/strong><\/td>\n Price<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n SendMoney to self (up to R3,000) \u2014 cardless cash-out at Checkers, Shoprite, Usave<\/td>\n R8.50<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n SendMoney to someone not at Bank Zero (up to R3,000) \u2014 cash out at Checkers, Shoprite, Usave<\/td>\n R8.50<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Draw cash at ATM<\/td>\n R9 per R1,000<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Draw cash at Point of Sale (Pick n Pay, Spar, Checkers, Shoprite)<\/td>\n R2<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Balance enquiry at Point of Sale or ATM<\/td>\n R2<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Nuisance fees, including:<\/p>\n \n
R2<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Card personalisation with delivery to Pargo pickup points at Clicks stores<\/td>\n R79<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Card personalisation with delivery to a street address (main\/regional)<\/td>\n R139\/R179<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Send proof of payment via SMS<\/td>\n R1.50<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Value-added services are your choice<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n \n Activity<\/strong><\/td>\n Price<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Open additional check account on profile<\/td>\n R100<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Request statements older than 3 months<\/td>\n R10 per statement<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Receive money via a Bank Zero QR code<\/td>\n 0.5% of amount<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Dispute or stop debit order<\/td>\n R8<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Dispute card transaction (i.e. chargeback)<\/td>\n R30<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n No transactions on check account for more than 6 months<\/td>\n R5 per month<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n<\/div>\n Now read: Cheapest bank accounts in South Africa<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"