Bank Zero, the financial services venture of ex-First National Bank CEO Michael Jordaan, has started trial runs in South Africa.
The bank has tapped IBM to provide an open-source based banking platform. Its core apps will operate on IBM LinuxONE.
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IBM South Africa country GM Hamilton Ratshefola said: “For IBM, this represents an enormous opportunity to power this unique and fresh approach to banking.
“IBM is uniquely equipped to help Bank Zero with this mission, in a way that is secure, reliable and scaled to grow with Bank Zero as customers adopt their services.”
Bank Zero also teamed up with Mastercard and is currently working on offering a new generation of card.
The bank secured a licence in August this year and the following month integrated with the national payments systems of the South African Reserve Bank.
It expects to start operations next year, following the “alpha testing” phase. The trial phase will involve validation of the bank’s end-to-end live systems and processes.
“In a digitally connected world, employing cutting-edge technologies and delivering state-of-the-art security is at the core of innovation. As we focus on delivering a robust banking value proposition to our customers, collaborating with IBM will ensure that we have a secure, leading platform from which to deliver banking services,” Jordaan stated.
