Discovery of an innovative bank

‘World’s first behavioural bank’ expected to open in March.

Customers will not need to be insured through Discovery to score well.

Discovery Bank, unveiled this week and expected to open in March, is built on Vitality fundamentals. Discovery chief executive Adrian Gore describes it as the “world’s first behavioural bank”, premised on “making people healthier” financially.

Using Vitality Money, Discovery Bank will encourage and incentivise behaviour change.

While it will measure and encourage these behaviours, it will not be egalitarian.

You will not need to be insured through Discovery, as an example, to score well. Rather, it’s important you are insured.

These behaviours will result in a Vitality Money status (Blue to Diamond scale), which will then translate into three rewards: dynamic interest rates for borrowing and saving, boosted Vitality rewards and weekly Active Rewards for responsible spending.

Depending on your status, you could get an interest rate of up to market rate less five or six percentage points for debt and up to market rate plus three percentage points for savings.

Customers will see their core Vitality rewards discounts boosted, depending on their Vitality Money status. For example, the up to 35% discount on local flights on partner airlines can be boosted to as much as 75%.

Interest rates and rewards change based on day-to-day behaviour.

The core proposition is the Discovery 1 Account – a “fusion” of a credit card and transaction account, with a builtin Vitality Savings Account.

On fees, Gore said only that it would be “market related”.

There will be “strong incentives to bring across your salary” but it will play in the “primary and secondary account space”.

He sees the market as anyone who can afford private healthcare.

While the bank will be mobile led, Gore says it will have full retail functionality.

The bank is centred around its innovative app. It will only have one branch – at head office, Discovery Place, which will open next year.

Clients can use any ATM or a network of point-of-sale merchants to withdraw cash and make deposits.

By leveraging its scale, Discovery will allow you to pay anyone in your contacts using just their cellphone number. It will use data, with permission, to tie together names and contact numbers to authenticate payments behind the scenes.

Payments to other accounts, whether Discovery or not, can be instant, costing R5 on Discovery 1 and nothing on Discovery 1 Plus (its top-tier bundle).

It is innovating across healthcare provider partners Clicks and Dis-Chem and will allow seamless payments at the dispensing counter for medication.

Because Discovery knows what medical aid plan you’re on and whether payment will be from your medical aid savings account or not, the transaction will be settled automatically in the background. The account holder will be able to just walk out the door.

Discovery Bank fees will be market related.