FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
Women’s co-op aims to shake up dominance of SA’s biggest banks
London —After more than a decade of SA’s biggest banks not having to face fresh competition, new rivals are stacking up. The latest entrant, the Young Women in Business Network Cooperative Financial Institution (YWBN), is now seeking to become the country’s first bank owned by women by converting from being a co-operative institution, which can only offer services to its members, MD Nthabeleng Likotsi said. It will target informal traders and black business owners who have been shunned by traditional lenders, she said. YWBN joins at least three other companies planning to challenge the nation’s five top lenders, including FirstRand and Standard Bank Group. Between them, those five major banks control more than 90% of banking assets and dominate the local landscape, with ATMs and branches littered all over the country, offering everything from savings accounts and credit cards to business loans and private wealth management services. "Competition is healthy and we strongly believe th...
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