This case study presents insights from customer research with TymeBank clients that bolsters CGAP’s hypotheses around how digital banks can support the mission of financial inclusion. As a fully digital South African bank that disproportionately serves low-income rural customers, TymeBank has created a suite of basic products that cater to the essential financial needs of those customers, namely a low-cost transactional account and a high-yield savings account. Judging from product uptake and client testimonials, these products add to a compelling value proposition that not only resonates with customers but improves their lives.
Impact / Outcome
TymeBank serves a higher proportion of low-income customers than the typical bank in South Africa, and a significantly higher portion of the most financially excluded segment.
Low-income customers in South Africa are relatively highly banked, although they are under-represented. Among the three-quarters of TymeBank customers for whom data are available, 58 percent live in metropolitan areas and 42 percent in rural areas. This compares to South Africa’s rural population of 35 percent (as of 2016); we estimated this share to be even lower in 2021 (approximately 30 percent). Hence, rural customers appeared to be noticeably overrepresented in the TymeBank user base.
Funding sources
Private
Key Metrics
Support the mission of financial inclusion through digital banks
Operating model
Fully privateYear published
01 January 2022 
CGAP