New kid on the banking block, GoTyme bank, is rethinking its partnership with the largest church in Africa, which has not translated into customer growth.
Chief executive Cheslyn Jacobs has signalled a need to reset partnership with the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) as it has not yet delivered the expected number of customers.
The bank rebranded from TymeBank to GoTyme Bank to merge its South African operations with its global identity and reflect the business’s growth and scale at a launch event held at The Forum in Hyde Park on Tuesday.
The bank said the transition introduces a streamlined app and updated kiosk designs, though it maintains full account continuity and banking licenses for existing customers.
The partnership with the ZCC was launched in 2020 and was built on the idea of offering affordable and accessible banking products tailored to ZCC members. The main feature of the collaboration is the Zion City Moria (ZCM) card, which serves both as a church membership card and a debit card.
Jacobs said the GoTyme Bank plans to engage the church leadership to find ways to revive the partnership and drive stronger growth. According to him, the target is to convert at least between 20% and 30% of the church’s large congregation into active banking clients.
“We are working closely with them; there’s still massive potential in that partnership.”
The ZCM card provides what the bank describes as competitive transactional fees and offers up to 10% interest on savings balances, positioning it as an attractive product for church members.
Despite these efforts, Jacobs said the uptake has been slower than anticipated and attributed the slow progress to the Covid-19 pandemic. He said they have only gained “tiny” membership from the church and raised concern that this falls short of the scale initially envisioned.
He said ZCC was one of the last churches to reopen for mass gatherings following the pandemic and had anticipated that the mass gatherings would bring in business and unlock the value in the market share.
Jacobs said the bank does not have any plans in place to partner with other churches based on what they know now, but would be available to grab the chance to grow when an opportunity presents itself.
As the bank plans for more physical presence through their customer hubs, currently sitting at 30 in retail centres but planned to reach 100, Jacobs believes that this would create an opportunity to directly engage with customers and members.
Jacobs said GoTyme continues to grow by around 150 000 clients a month, has recorded 140% growth in transactions, and has been saving customers from PayShap charges among other things. As it stands, the bank has over 27-million clients including 13-million in South Africa.
At the same time and as part of the rebrand, Jacobs has announced that employees will now become shareholders through an employee share ownership plan as they aim for more participation in the business.
Jacobs confirmed that it has retention but said the main reason was rather a psychological effect to have staff working pridefully because they now know that they own shares within the bank.
He said since issuing letters to the qualifying 800 employees he has been hearing them tell each other that they are owners and highlighted that this is the attitude they aimed for to ensure that everyone gets excited to work.
“At a certain point, you realise success should not sit in one place. This business has been built by people who show up every day and make it work. Giving them a stake in what we’re building just feels right. It’s about shared ownership, shared responsibility, and shared success,” said Jacobs.
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- New kid on the banking block, GoTyme bank, is rethinking its partnership with the largest church in Africa, which has not translated into customer growth.
- Chief executive Cheslyn Jacobs has signalled a need to reset partnership with the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) as it has not yet delivered the expected number of customers.
- The bank rebranded from TymeBank to GoTyme Bank to merge its South African operations with its global identity and reflect the business’s growth and scale at a launch event held at The Forum in Hyde Park on Tuesday.
- The bank said the transition introduces a streamlined app and updated kiosk designs, though it maintains full account continuity and banking licenses for existing customers.
- The partnership with the ZCC was launched in 2020 and was built on the idea of offering affordable and accessible banking products tailored to ZCC members.
