Grindrod goes all out to retain account holders after Net1’s axing as grants distributor
Grindrod is seeking to retain as many as possible of the 5.4-million bank accounts it is set to lose following SA’s decision to appoint a new distributor of welfare grants, tempting recipients with affordable banking services such as EasyPay. The government has asked the Post Office to handle more than $10bn of annual social security payments after cancelling an arrangement with Net1 UEPS earlier in 2018. Grindrod’s banking arm had a partnership with Net1’s Cash Paymaster Services, in which millions of welfare beneficiaries that used banks were automatically Grindrod clients because that was how they accessed their cash. Remgro, the investment vehicle of Johann Rupert, owns about 23% of Grindrod, which also has investments in transportation. The businessman has a net worth of $7.4bn and is SA’s richest man, according to the Bloomberg billionaires index. Grindrod Bank’s profit is likely to decline 20% if the company cannot retain welfare recipients as customers in some capacity, acco...
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