Brian Richardson, the CEO of mobile banking company Wizzit, said at the association's inaugural summit in Johannesburg recently that the case of R12 billion 'under mattresses', was not unique to SA.
But he said it was 'sad' that last year, the number of unbanked people increased.
'We seem to be going backwards and the economy and the global meltdown has been blamed.'
WIZZIT Payments (Pty) Ltd is a provider of basic banking services for the unbanked and underbanked (people or enterprises that have no or only limited access to banking services) in SA. Its services are based on the use of mobile phones for accessing bank accounts and conducting transactions, in addition to a Maestro debit card that is issued to all customers upon registration.
Wizzit is a branchless banking business, meaning that its services are designed so that customers can generally conduct transactions without the need to visit bank branches.
While Wizzit does not operate any branches on its own, it has partnered with the Absa Group and the South African Post Office and the that act as banking agents and allow Wizzit's customers to deposit funds at any Absa or Post Office branch.
However, Richardson said the key to getting more people to open bank accounts depended on affordability, accessibility and availability.
'We don't have all the answers and if it was easy to bank the unbanked, everyone would be doing it.'
Richardson said banks could not be all things to all people and big banks would experience some difficulties in serving the informal market.
'Banks are highly formally structured organizations designed to serve a formal structured market so it's not easy for them to deal with the chaos of the informal market.'
He said that when it came to mobile banking, SA was losing the race.
'Our system in countries like Zambia is far more successful.'
