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ENTREPRENEUR: TymeDigital CEO Sandile Shabalala
The head of SA’s new digital bank brings experience gained over 26 years in the field to the venture
It can’t be easy for top executives to leave their comfortable billets at established businesses to create or join start-ups. Sandile Shabalala blazed a trail when he left Nedbank Business Banking to set up SA’s first truly digital bank since the now defunct 20Twenty started in 2003. Shabalala is the CEO of what is officially called CBSA/Tyme but will be known to the public as TymeDigital. It is a subsidiary of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, one of the world’s 10 largest retail banks by market capitalisation. He joined CBSA/Tyme in October 2016. It kept a low profile until last month, when it received a full banking licence. With the licence in hand the bank can begin its preparation. TymeDigital already offers money transfer facilities, and Shabalala says it will have a transactional rather than a loan-driven focus. And he is confident that the failure of 20Twenty will not be a bad omen for Tyme. "That business came in at least a decade ahead of its time. Client familiarity wi...
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