Business case for new retail bank in South Africa

Genesis partnered with a JSE-listed South African financial services provider to develop a business case for specialist banking services to the business and personal market.

The client already possessed many of the capabilities required for a retail bank but faced multiple challenges such as the lack of a core banking system and a physical distribution network, which have historically dominated the face of retail banking in South Africa. In order to address the capability gaps that were identified through a detailed capability mapping exercise, the Genesis team identified technological solutions that address the constraints.

The design of the value proposition was informed by the client’s vision of building a low-cost, high-touch-and-feel bank for its target customer base. Then, in order to identify suitable technologies through which to implement this vision, the team conducted a detailed assessment of the bank’s target market segments. Using this methodology, we obtained a good understanding of client behaviours and attitudes to using digital channels as opposed to physical infrastructure.

As the client’s objective was to develop a bank from the ground up, the team proposed an operating model that would overcome many of the challenges related to organisational and product silos faced by incumbent banks, which often result in conflicting interests. Building a robust operating model fully supported by technological choices such as the core banking system was therefore identified as a key success factor for this client.

The outputs presented to the group CEO were well received. These are informing the client’s market entry strategy and Genesis conducted further work in 2016 on delivering a new technologically driven retail bank.