8.2 million South Africans sent R43 billion to each other without bank accounts

FNB’s eWallet offering serves over 8.2 million users a year, enabling individuals without bank accounts to access financial services. 

Now with its expansion onto WhatsApp, the bank aims to deepen its penetration into South Africa’s significant unbanked population. 

Despite the rapid growth of fintechs and Capitec, South Africa still has a substantial unbanked population, and, in a stagnant economy, it has become one of the key areas of growth for local banks. 

The unbanked population is one of the last remaining areas of the South African economy where millions of individuals remain cut off from the traditional financial system. 

This prevents them from accessing digital transactions, credit and lending, as well as preventing them from saving and investing for the future. 

More broadly, these individuals do not participate in the formal economy and, despite significant economic activity occurring in this space, do not feature in official statistics. 

This makes it difficult to justify investments in this space from formal financial institutions, as it is unclear what the size of the market is. 

FNB’s eWallet offering is one of the few that have cracked it, with 8.2 million people using it in 2025 and around R43 billion being sent via the platform in the same period. 

eWallet executive Hema Morar explained that this shows the product has evolved beyond a novelty and is now part of everyday life across South Africa. 

Processing around 1.5 million transactions a month, the eWallet ecosystem has gradually expanded in recent years to include ATM withdrawals, cash-outs, purchases, and prepaid vouchers. 

Morar explained to Daily Investor that this is really a front door to formal banking, with it being designed for individuals who do not have a formal bank account or may not want one. 

The capability of the service is based on customer history, with it requiring a period of good financial behaviour to get access to enhanced functionality. 

As clients build transaction history and verified profiles, they unlock additional features for higher limits to cash advances. 

They are also able to move beyond the money spinner of eWallet, which is micro credit, where FNB offers eligible customers access to short-term lending for amounts from R50 to R500. 

This credit is only designed to support daily, unexpected expenses, with it having extremely low barriers to entry. 

The WhatsApp and retail revolution

As with Morar’s explanation of eWallet being the front door of formal banking, the main point of the offering is not to necessarily make money off existing clients. 

Rather, the platform is intended to be a stepping stone for individuals towards formal banking accounts with FNB as their financial needs become more complex. 

Through the progressive access to enhanced functionality, the end goal of the process is to get individuals using formal bank accounts. 

This is crucial for FNB’s future growth, with the eWallet effectively getting millions of South Africans to interact with its services without needing to open a formal bank account. 

As a result, a large part of the unbanked market uses FNB products on a daily basis, ensuring that when they do need formal banking products, they are likely to turn to South Africa’s oldest bank. 

“Financial inclusion is a foundational objective of eWallet. It was intentionally designed as a low-barrier entry point for unbanked, underbanked, and underserved South Africans,” Morar said. 

The next stage of this process is making it even easier for South Africans to engage with these banking products through WhatsApp. 

Previously, individuals had to receive an eWallet transfer first before being able to create their own eWallet. Now, they can create their own via WhatsApp. 

This is coupled with enhanced functionality across paying, receiving, sending, buying, and borrowing, pushing them along towards formal banking accounts. 

Customers can now also withdraw funds at a wide network of retail partners, including Pick n Pay, Shoprite, Checkers, USave, Ackermans, and PEP, as well as make purchases at fuel retailers. 

The whole point of this expansion is to get individuals who are otherwise unexposed to FNB’s product set to engage with the bank. 

This move beyond traditional banking touchpoints ensures FNB’s tentacles reach deeper into the unbanked market to ensure that when those individuals do engage with a financial services provider, it is the oldest bank in South Africa.