{"id":8460,"date":"2026-06-21T22:56:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T22:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=8460"},"modified":"2026-06-21T22:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T22:56:38","slug":"om-bank-bets-on-simplicity-in-a-complex-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=8460","title":{"rendered":"OM Bank bets on simplicity in a complex market"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><strong><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/iframe.iono.fm\/e\/1687950?layout=modern\" width=\"100%\" height=\"170\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>Old Mutual is moving deeper into banking with the launch of OM Bank, a digital offering that promises to combine banking, insurance, savings and investment tools in one ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>But South Africa\u2019s banking market is already crowded. Consumers are under real financial pressure, and trust alone may not be enough to win them over. So what exactly is OM Bank bringing that\u2019s different, that\u2019s fairer and maybe more useful in everyday life?<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m in conversation now with Ethel Nyembe, who\u2019s the chief product and innovation officer at OM Bank. Ethel, a very warm welcome to you. You\u2019ll agree with me that South Africa is not short of banks. Is there a specific problem that OM Bank is solving that others may have missed?<\/p>\n<p><strong>ETHEL NYEMBE: <\/strong>We [are] of the view that some of the elements that you\u2019ve already mentioned are critical to OM Bank. The trust that backs OM Bank is the insurance company \u2013 Old Mutual itself, with 180 years of trust built with South Africans.<\/p>\n<p>Yet at OM Bank, what we\u2019ve really concentrated on is being digitally first, with embedding that human spirit.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We are a bank that, in its infancy, wants to be end-to-end.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>By that I really mean that it\u2019s so easy to be part of our ecosystem just through the banking app, and also knowing that we\u2019ve got key representation across the country, so you can walk into any one of our branches and talk to a human.<\/p>\n<p>And of course, if that didn\u2019t work out for you, through our app, we\u2019ve got a financial advisor called Themba that you can speak to directly about your financial needs.<\/p>\n<p>Then most importantly, is that should you really want, you can converse with the call centre on the app, or you can call them directly.<\/p>\n<p>But I think we are at a very exciting moment where we are not solving product per product, but we are really wanting to embed ourselves into the financial needs and habits of the various South Africans who would choose OM Bank, and they want to be clever with their money, and we want to be with them every step of the way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>When you talk about the end-to-end solution, how important has that become for customers? In other words, to be a part of a big ecosystem that can look at every single aspect of their financial life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ETHEL NYEMBE: <\/strong>It\u2019s very important, Jeremy. I think that right now, many customers, particularly the middle class, are under pressure as inflation erodes some of their income.<\/p>\n<p>And of course, they are starting to think about how to save cleverly and how to make sure that they also manage their debt while doing day-to-day navigation, such as food, transportation, electricity, buying airtime and making sure their insurance is not lapsing.<\/p>\n<p>So that, we find, is the very essence of what we want to address, where you have the convergence of a non-fragmented financial service where banking, insurance, investments, rewards, your day-to-day, like electricity and value-added services are converged to really address the needs of our customers.<\/p>\n<p>Then, of course, being able to interact with us every hour, every day, through the app or any other methodology that they deem fit for them to win. Because when they win, we also win.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>How important is it then to use customer data intelligently? Because if that is done properly, then half the battle is won, I imagine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ETHEL NYEMBE: <\/strong>Jeremy, it is vital to use customer data because you have clusters of customers who may have similarities, and then you have clusters of customers who may behave in a particular way.<\/p>\n<p>That gives you a sense of a need, and a need that, through your services, can then be provided and really make their lives much easier.<\/p>\n<p>We pride ourselves on being one of those organisations that use and lead with data. If you also look at our platform, it is really cloud-based and ready for the future.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>So the ability to have customer insights at our fingertips is critical for us, because not only does it allow us to then make sure that our digital banker, Themba, is relevant, but it also allows us to anticipate a customer\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>We\u2019ve got a number of methods and ways in which we\u2019ve allowed a customer to think about how they can save, as an example. We think about a feature called Pay Me First so that we respond to those customer needs.<\/p>\n<p>And if you buy airtime more regularly, we are able to respond to that nudge that this is ordinarily the timing that you buy your airtime, as an example, and therefore, don\u2019t do more but do less, because we\u2019ve done the preliminary work for you to be able to carry on with your day-to-day life.<\/p>\n<p>So if I think about the features that we\u2019ve introduced, and I also think about how we use data, popping up onto our app, and also as you come into any of our branches, is really not to be condescending to a customer, but to meet the customer where they are, and never to be cleverer than a customer, but to really walk the journey with the customer because it is their money.<\/p>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>Ethel, just a final question and a quick answer, if you don\u2019t mind. I\u2019m so glad you mentioned response time.<\/p>\n<p>You also referenced at the beginning of our conversation the heritage and trust around the Old Mutual brand, but I\u2019m wondering if that matters to younger digital customers these days, who want, as you referenced, speed and price first and foremost.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ETHEL NYEMBE: <\/strong>At its very essence, we are OM Bank and so not Old Mutual Bank. So we cater for the new generation, meeting them exactly where they are, where we are not asking for paper to give validity to your KYC (know your customer), as an example, and within minutes, you are able to have a bank account.<\/p>\n<p>If having a physical card is important to you, you can always pick it up later. But within minutes, after opening your account and becoming part of our family, you have the opportunity to then have a virtual card.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve recently got onto the Google Pay platform, which gives you the opportunity to transact.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>So I do believe that without having to piggyback on the Old Mutual 180 years, we have taken the baton to behave in ways that haven\u2019t lost the value system but cater to the younger generation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>JEREMY MAGGS: <\/strong>Ethel Nyembe, thank you very much indeed, chief product and innovation officer at OM Bank.<\/p>\n<p><em>Brought to you by\u00a0<\/em><em>OM Bank<\/em><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Moneyweb does not endorse any product or service being advertised in sponsored articles on our platform.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>#Bank #bets #simplicity #complex #market<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here. JEREMY MAGGS: Old Mutual is moving deeper into banking with the launch of OM Bank, a digital offering that promises&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[200,4076,2230,33,10578],"class_list":["post-8460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-investing","tag-bank","tag-bets","tag-complex","tag-market","tag-simplicity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}