'cheapest transactional account'

members on any Pocket. Member status allows the member to view the pocket and to deposit, but not to withdraw or transfer any funds.

"This functionality can be utilised by informal savings clubs, church groups and any collection of people wishing to save together for a shared trip or activity," the bank said. MyWORLD operates on African Bank's new omni-channel platform that allows accounts to be opened and managed through all the bank's channels, including the website, app, cellphone, in the branches and through the contact centres. A customer can open a MyWORLD account online or via the app.

The only requirement to come into branch is to generate and receive their MyWORLD debit card, it said. African Bank, the entity that has risen from the ashes of one of the biggest banking collapses in SA, has become the latest entrant in the fee war that is shaking up the industry.

The bank, which has attracted more than R1bn in deposits despite the harm the brand suffered due to the 2014 implosion, launched a zero monthly fee account that rivals TymeBank's core "no fee" selling point and beats Capitec's interest rates on money kept in a transactional account.

The new account, called MyWORLD, has been three years in the making and lets customers open up to five linked accounts with separate bank cards for their families, at no monthly fee either.

"There's no question that bank fees have been very controversial in SA for a very long time," African Bank CEO Basani Maluleke said during the launch on Tuesday.

"We will definitely have the cheapest transactional account of any bank out there, both the big incumbent banks as well as the new entrants," said Maluleke. He said that African Bank compared its fee structure with the figures in the Solidarity Bank Charges report. Maluleke said African Bank had re-established trust since the old bank was placed under curatorship in 2014 after collapsing under a mountain of debt.

At the time, the share price of parent company African Bank Investments Limited tumbled from R28 to just 31c before it was suspended on the JSE in August that year. She said the bank wanted to rebuild and broaden its client base with this account. "We definitely want to start by servicing our existing customer base very well.

"We want to drive penetration of MyWORLD account into that base. People in our current base typically have extended family obligations who will find the functionality beneficial," she said.

The bank currently has just more than 1-million customers on its loans and insurance books, and they will be primary targets of the new account.