As another repo rate hike is announced, TymeBank increases its fixed deposit interest to boost South African savers

As another repo rate hike is announced, TymeBank increases its fixed deposit interest to boost South African savers.

The best fixed deposit interest rates in the market for 3, 6 and 12 months

Johannesburg, 29 May 2023

TymeBank, South Africa’s fastest growing digital bank, today announced that it has increased its fixed deposit interest rate by 1% – cementing its rates as the best in the market for the stated terms. The bank’s announcement was made shortly after the South African Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) hiked the current repo rate by a further 50 basis points during its meeting held on Thursday, 25th May 2023.

With this latest rate hike, the MPC has raised rates a total of 10 times since November 2021, amounting to a total of 475 basis points. This has put a significant financial strain on South Africans’ everyday living costs, especially on the cost of credit such as home loans, vehicle repayments and store or credit cards.

Against this background, TymeBank now offers its customers the following interest rates at maturity:

• 11% for a 12-month fixed deposit plan (previously 10%)
• 10% for a 6-month fixed deposit plan (previously 9%)
• 9% for a 3-month fixed deposit plan (previously 8%)

This increase in fixed deposit interest by TymeBank will greatly benefit customers who can save – especially as there is no minimum deposit amount for this account, capital investment is guaranteed, and interest is accrued and compounded daily instead of monthly.

Cheslyn Jacobs, Chief Commercial Officer at TymeBank commented: “TymeBank always has the needs of our customers front of mind when we introduce new products and solutions. We are fully aware of the tough economic conditions people are dealing with right now and believe that our market leading rates will encourage South Africans to save more and have their money actually work for them.”

Jacobs added that the fixed deposit account is in addition to the bank’s popular GoalSave product which gives customers as much as 10% interest on their savings if their salaries are paid into TymeBank.

With TymeBank’s fixed deposit account customers are not charged any fees, but they would need to open a TymeBank EveryDay account in order to fund the fixed deposit product. And there will be a 1% penalty if the investment is withdrawn before the date of maturity.

The new interest rates from the bank come at a time when TymeBank’s parent company, Tyme recently announced a successful $77.8 million pre-series capital raise aimed at growing its South African and Philippines operations. TymeBank, established in February 2019, boasts 7 million customers and is growing at a rate of 200,000 customers per month.

“We are pleased that as a digital bank, we are able to pass on the benefits of not having any legacy and infrastructural overheads onto our customers by providing excellent interest on our various accounts and we continue to find innovate ways to place our customers at the centre of our operations by providing exceptional value,” concluded Jacobs.

About TymeBank

TymeBank is currently one of the world’s fastest-growing digital banks, with 7 million customers since launching in February 2019. The bank is founded on simplicity, transparency and affordability and is designed to make digital banking accessible and affordable to all South Africans across the economic spectrum. TymeBank has no monthly banking fees, it takes less than five minutes to open an account and in most cases transaction costs are 30 to 50% lower than what customers would pay at other local banks. Through a distribution partnership with Pick n Pay and Boxer, and more recently TFG, TymeBank has a total of 1,450 kiosks (including 600 at TFG stores) and 15,000 retail points in retail stores across the country. Retail Capital, a division of TymeBank, is the largest SME funder of its kind in the sector.

TymeBank is majority owned by Dr Patrice Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital (‘ARC’). Other investors include Tencent, British International Investment (BII), Apis Growth Fund II (‘Apis’), JG Summit Holdings (JG Summit), African Fig Tree (AFT), and the Ethos AI Fund. TymeBank is a member of the Tyme Group of companies with headquarters in Singapore.

For more information, please visit https://gotyme.co.za.

About Tyme

Tyme is a multi-country digital banking group, focused on bridging the digital divide in emerging markets, by integrating into physical retail ecosystems. Headquartered in Singapore with offices in Hong Kong and Ho Chi Min City, Tyme designs, builds, and commercializes digital banks for the mass market, with a particular expertise in serving under-served and under-banked populations. Tyme recognizes the unique challenges of digital banking in emerging markets and builds financial education, a high tech – high touch approach, and efficient cash management solutions to meet the needs of the emerging mass market in these countries.

For more information, please visit www.tyme.com.