South Africa’s newest kid in the block and first open banking marketplace, Spot Money has launched a shared wallet feature on their fintech app, Spot. The feature is a digital solution that seeks to create transparency for shared financial investments, like stokvels.
New Shared Account feature
The Spot app offers customers transactional banking; a free monthly account and a marketplace for everyday needs. With the new Shared Account feature, up to 10 people can manage their finances easily through a shared wallet. There is no monthly account fee, which allows for accessibility at every income level.
“Fintech is pioneering the way that the financial management needs of stokvels are serviced. The adoption of such technology is being driven by young, urban populations, with many members using modern financial technologies to better manage their investments,” says Josephine Mbire, Head of Customer Support at Spot Money.
The stokvel savings concept has seen increased legitimacy in recent years, operating just outside the financial sector and financing households throughout Africa for decades. Nearly 12 million South Africans belong to these informal savings clubs where members take turns to receive a fixed amount of money. Stokvels finance groceries, school supplies, household appliances and attract about R50-billion a year in investments, making them a legitimate vehicle driving our country’s economy.
“There has long been a need amongst stokvel members for greater transparency of where their money is going, and assurance that it’s being handled prudently. Traditionally, one person would collect all the money, and they would effectively hold all the power over how and when payments would be made, with other members having little insight into the movement of their investments,” explained Mbire.
The app’s scan-to-pay feature means that stokvel members won’t risk carrying big cash amounts when making group purchases. Users can also earn instant cashback rewards into their Spot Rewards wallet when shopping at partner stores such as Checkers, Shoprite & USave.
“Until now, shared accounts meant a primary account holder would provide limited access to chosen beneficiaries. Our approach makes all account holders equal partners and gives everyone full sight of what’s going on in the account: they can see who paid and received money and are able to top up and make payments out of that account through a range of channels,” said Mbire. “Stokvels have been around forever, and it’s high time the formal financial sector started catering to them. We believe Spot offers stokvels a great way to manage their money more effectively.”
