There is considerable debate about Discovery's entry into banking. We are cognisant that our intent to disrupt established markets will invariably evoke strong responses. But it is important to contextualise the issues. There are two themes: how will we differentiate, given a market that is oligopolistic and commoditised; and why now, given a tough economy and considerable uncertainty? First, our approach to differentiation is, ironically, to do nothing differently - we are following our business model to a T. Our core purpose is "to make people healthier", and this has led us to understand that within the most complex matters of life, death and money, there is a common DNA strand: behaviour. It turns out that four poor lifestyle choices are responsible for 60% of the world's preventable deaths and 80% of the disease burden. Similarly, five simple financial behaviours explain 80% of credit default risk and why people don't have sufficient retirement savings. Our approach is to use i...
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