Within the next 10-15 years what will the future of African banking look like? Africa’s banking landscape will be completely transformed by digital banking solutions.

Rapidly-changing customer and business needs and a continuous flow of new technology are already shaping today’s hyper-connected world.

And while the African banking sector is dominated by the major banks, the likes of Capitec and digital-only banks are disrupting the sector.

Personalisation, big data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) and agile tech will make much more possible, and banks need to effectively ‘reinvent’ themselves to get ahead and remain agile.

And against a backdrop of low economic growth and political challenges, banks will need to be innovative and use emerging technologies to help meet their customers needs and stimulate growth. As well as adopting digital partnerships and solutions to meet security demands.

The South African Customer Satisfaction Index (SA-csi) conducted by Consulta during 2018/2019 polled almost 35,000 consumers across nine sectors to obtain customer satisfaction insights – and banking (Capitec) came out on top followed by life insurance, clothing retail and supermarkets.

It highlights how Capitec and TymeBank achieved one million account holders in under eight months, and the banks that are winning are those putting customer-centricity at the heart of process and function. And it also cautions that 1 in 4 customers are ready to defect to another bank. Something established banks should sit up and note when thinking about the future of banking, particularly in South Africa.