Virgin Money ready to launch its zero monthly fee bank account

VIRGIN Money South Africa will launch a zero monthly fee bank account and cheap cross-border payments on its financial technology app, and could eventually roll this out in other developing markets, its chief executive said in a phone interview yesterday.

The latest iteration of the app, Spot, which currently allows users to make payments to other individuals or merchants, is expected to launch with the new features in the final quarter of the year, Andre Hugo, Virgin Money SA chief executive, said.

“We’re quite bullish,” he said, explaining that Spot and the company’s personal loans and credit card businesses collectively had more than 500 000 customers. Spot alone acquired more than 285 000 users in six days after its October launch, he added.

“Our magic number is 2 million customers in the next 18 months. We’re the fastest growing Virgin company ever... so as a result the group is looking at us and saying: Well, how can we replicate this in other areas?”

There were discussions ongoing about entering other countries already, Hugo said. He declined to specify where, except that the focus was on other developing economies.

Spot was launched at a time when fintech companies are shaking up financial services industries from Europe to Asia, threatening to displace banks on everything from payments to foreign exchange.

Hugo compared Spot to fast-growing British digital banks like Monzo and Revolut. Such companies adopt an “open banking” model, whereby customers can access a variety of services from different providers in one place, currently being taken up across Britain, the EU, Australia and Singapore.

Virgin Money SA, which does not have a banking licence, but can offer bank-like services via partnerships with lenders, will make some money from fees, including on cross-border payments. |