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Standard Bank Mobile: What you need to know

Standard Bank held an event near its Rosebank headquarters earlier today, where the financial services provider unpacked its latest offering in the form of Standard Bank Mobile.

The reasons as to why Standard Bank has chosen to launch this new solution, especially considering they had previously stated that they had no desire to have a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) service, is the fact that it’s acknowledged the changing needs of its customers.

“With the MVNO space fiercely competitive in SA at the moment, SB Mobile is offering something totally different: an integrated (rather than a stand-alone) service, which rewards subscription customers with free airtime and data for doing something they do every day – bank,” explains Stephen Bailey, Standard Bank Mobile CEO.

What’s it all about?

With multiple facets and provisos to this offering, let’s break into what’s on offer with Standard Bank Mobile, who it’s designed for, and what to expect from the service moving forward.

The first thing to note is that Standard Bank Mobile is only designed for existing Standard Bank customers, but we probably all knew that given the name.

What you might be more keen to know is that is that SB Mobile will run on the Cell C and MTN networks as a mobile virtual network operator, which is an important thing to note if you keep a close eye on your data costs.

In terms of the service that’s being offered, Standard Bank Mobile will reward customers who make use of the solution by offering data and airtime for doing transactions with either their credit, debit or cheque cards.

The different tiers

The rate at which you receive data and airtime back will depend on the type of account you hold with Standard Bank. You can also adjust the rate of data and airtime you wish to ear back, but this will increase the cost of your monthly subscription fee accordingly.

Speaking of which Standard Bank Mobile starts at R49 per month, and is SIM-based at the moment, with Standard Bank selling said SIMs. There are plans to add devices to the offering too, but Standard Bank explains that those will only happen some time in the new year.

“Rewards are tiered so that every time they transact they get something back – 1MB of data is given back for every R10 spent on all transactional cards, for instance, at a monthly fee of R39. Youth and inclusive banking clients will pay no fee, however,” notes a press release about the announcement.

“Tiers are based on Elite (R105 free airtime), Prestige (R205), private and professional (R369) and Wealth & Signature (R469 in free airtime). All credit card transactions for signed up SB Mobile clients qualify for 1MB for every R10 and R100 free airtime for the R39 monthly fee,” the press release continues.

More to come?

Those Standard Bank customers interested in the new Mobile offering can sign up for the service here, with the financial services provider quite keen to see how people react to the new service.

We too are intrigued, especially to see which types of account holders sign up, as well as what other kinds of services Standard Bank is planning to add to the service moving forward, along with bringing other networks onboard.

While not mentioning specific services, Bailey did explain to us that some other offerings have already been developed, and will be added to Standard Bank Mobile as and when the time is right.

Standard Bank is committed to continuously providing real value to people’s lives and we have determined that ultimately their choice of service provider is based on value for money and service quality,” concludes Bailey.

We were also lucky to be seeded with a Standard Bank Mobile SIM, and will be trying out the service to see if it is indeed worthwhile for existing customers.

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