TymeBank targets Vietnam for expansion efforts

Business magnate Dr. Patrice Motsepe’s Tyme Group is planning to launch a third digital bank in Vietnam, Southeast Asia, aiming to grow its foothold in the continent’s banking sector. Tyme Group, majority-owned by Dr. Motsepe’s African Rainbow Capital (ARC), owns a 57.7% stake in TymeBank, self-acclaimed South Africa’s first digital-only bank.

After securing $110 million in a Series C fundraise, the digital banking group is set for international expansion, following the 2021 launching of its second fully digital bank, GoTyme Bank, in the Philippines, in partnership with local firm Gokongwei.

Coenraad Jonker, CEO of TymeBank, shares that they’re targeting an entrance to the Vietnamese market, with plans to launch a third digital bank there. He reveals they aim to launch a merchant cash advance product by the second quarter of the year, and fully launch the retail bank by mid-2025.

Jonker adds that GoTyme Bank, Tyme’s operation in the Philippines, has managed to garner 2.3 million customers in 14 months and offers Tyme’s merchant cash advance product to 1.1 million MSME businesses in the Philippines.

Tyme Group has reported that it now serves a total of 10.8 million customers globally across its two markets; 8.5 million in South Africa and the remainder in the Philippines.

As per previous results disclosed by ARC, Tyme Group, which includes TymeBank and GoTyme, had an annual revenue run rate exceeding R1.8 billion for TymeBank and R100 million for GoTyme.

TymeBank recently announced that it had become the first digital bank in South Africa and on the continent to realize a profit, clocking R6 million in December 2023.

According to CEO Coenraad Jonker, this milestone is an affirmation of the business model’s commercial viability. The bank has set new objectives for the next business phase, which operate under a “play to win” mentality.

“Our profit is still reasonably small because our turnover is just over R200 million. So for the rest of the year, we expect this number to grow quiet rapidly. We have set a target to become one of the top three retail banks in SA.

“I will admit this is quite an ambitious target, but it can be done. We certainly have the momentum because we are already on-boarding around 200 000 customers in SA. If we work hard and delight our customers with great products and services, we can definitely get there,” adds Jonker.

Discussing the strategy to reach this target, Jonker points out the bank is focusing on improvements in several key merits, including: customer satisfaction, return on equity, efficiency ratio and scaling the business nationwide.

“We are targeting a return on equity of about 30% for the business. We are also working to keep the efficiency ratio at under 40%, whereas the big banks are currently at an average of 60%. Our net operating income and revenue growth has almost doubled over the last year (100%) and I think we can sustain a 50% plus growth in the coming years.”

The bank will also be adding in-store kiosks across SA’s major retailers and strengthen its relationship with partners Boxer and Pick n Pay.

“The big priority for TymeBank is to keep improving our customer service, and keep improving our products, particularly our app experience. One particular thing to look out for is our virtual card experience. We want to enable our customers to use the virtual card both for domestic and international use,” he concludes.