Discovery Bank, one of South Africa’s newest lenders, is embarking on an ambitious plan to nearly double its customer base and significantly grow its lending business to achieve a profit of R3 billion ($173 million) by 2029.
The bank, which is a unit of the insurer Discovery, recently celebrated a major milestone by breaking even in the second half of its fiscal year, a year ahead of its own projections. For the full year, it managed to reduce its loss to R68 million. According to CEO Hylton Kallner, the bank plans to leverage its existing 1.2 million clients and the approximately 1,000 new customers it attracts daily to drive earnings over the next four years, with a goal of reaching 2 million clients.
The bank’s lending book already saw a 39% increase in the year to June, thanks to a raft of new products, including revolving credit facilities and growth in its personal and home-loan businesses. Kallner stated that the bank’s ratio of loans to deposits is currently about 39%, providing significant room to grow advances to as much as 70% by 2029.
To support this growth and enhance its private banking capabilities, the lender plans to roll out a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool. The AI will also be integrated with popular messaging platforms like WhatsApp to provide clients with more accessible services.
