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STATISTICS South Africa reported that consumer price inflation increased from 2.9% year-on-year in February to 3.2% y-o-y last month. PWC Strategy& says this is slightly below expectations (3.3%) and continues to reflect a favourable retail price environment for consumers. The biggest driver of inflation in March was increased prices in the transport category: petrol and diesel cost 65 cents and 56c per litre more from March 3, and there was a 4.5% y-o-y increase in public transport costs. The SA Reserve Bank has warned that the next change in interest rates would be upward. PWC believes this is unlikely until early next year.

NEDBANK, in collaboration with Mastercard and Ukheshe, has launched Money Message, a new payment platform that lets small and microbusinesses conveniently receive secure in-chat payments from their customers via Whatsapp. Merchants will be able to send an invoice to a customer on Whatsapp. The customer, in turn, can settle the payment directly on the platform. Chipo Mushwana, executive of emerging payments at Nedbank, says: “Money Message looks to overcome a variety of cost, security and technical barriers by enabling micro merchants and their customers to transact with each other easily on Whatsapp.”

CAPITEC Bank has launched a feature on its app that makes it possible for consumers to open an account using facial biometrics. The technology ensures that a person is in front of the camera and not a photo, with images verified against the Department of Home Affairs database in real time. Francois Viviers, executive of marketing and communications at Capitec, says: “The feature allows us to offer a convenient, digital way to join Capitec that takes only a few minutes and doesn’t require any paperwork. It is also relevant in our new Covid reality where clients want to be able to bank and shop from their own home.”