TymeBank has soft launched in South Africa, allowing users to open a bank account online.

The bank is owned by Patrice Motsepe and had signed up 1,800 clients since its soft launch last week said CEO Sandile Shabalala.

TymeBank is positioned as a digital-first bank and promises no monthly account fees and competitive interest rates.

“TymeBank is a new kind of bank that’s digitally smart. The money we save by not having branches benefits you, it means you pay a lot less for banking. We have no monthly fees, many everyday banking transactions are free, and there are very low charges for other transactions,” states the bank.

Users only pay for the services they use, and the most expensive fee is R8 when drawing at another bank’s ATM.

Currently, TymeBank is available via its Android app or its website.

Registering with TymeBank

Registering for TymeBank was quick and easy when tested by a MyBroadband staff member this morning via the company’s website.

Users must first click on the “Open an account” button, which will take them to the registration page – shown below.

The registration page contains a reminder of the benefits users will receive, like no monthly fees, and a button to start the registration process.

When clicking “Start now”, users will be asked to enter their ID number and their cellphone number.

This is shown in the screenshot below.

After you have submitted a valid ID and cellphone number, you will be asked questions to verify your identity.

When tested, six questions were asked. These included questions like “What is your name”, and a whether we had registered as a director of a specific company.

More specific questions, such as the amount the MyBroadband staff member paid for their house, were also asked.

Once you have correctly answered the questions, you are sent an OTP which you enter before you create a password for your online banking account.

The process took less than five minutes to complete and worked smoothly.

Once you are registered, however, you do not have full account functionality. To “upgrade” your account, you must visit a TymeBank kiosk to register your biometric information.

You will also receive your Visa debit card for your bank account here.

These kiosks are currently available at the following stores:

Pick n Pay Rosebank

Pick n Pay Bedfordview

Pick n Pay Kensington

Pick n Pay Kenilworth

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