Discovery Bank continued with “good progress across all metrics” after the acquisition of clients accelerated over the year to June 30, Discovery CEO Adrian Gore said yesterday.
Discovery Bank, one of a number of new small banks in South Africa in recent years, was launched in November 2018 as the world’s first behavioural bank, a digital bank that aimed to help clients bank healthier and to leverage Discovery’s shared-value model.
Gore said yesterday that the bank aimed to reach operational break-even in the 2024 financial year.
In the past year to June 30, the number of its clients increased 49% to more than 700 000 clients. The total number of accounts increased 59% over the year to over 1.6 million. Consider that in 2019, the number of clients was 141 660.
In the past year net income increased 67% to R1.2 billion, while the net operating result was a R767 million loss.
Discovery Bank’s retail deposits increased 36% to R14.3bn, while advances were up 22% to R5.2bn.
Its credit losses were stable during the year, despite the interest rate increases. Its credit loss ratios were much lower than the four biggest banks.
Helping the bank to improve its results over the past year was that it was able to realise expense efficiencies as it began to scale, and launch new products.
Among the bank’s competitive advantages was that its portfolios are linked directly to Vitality Health, Vitality Drive and Vitality Money behavioural platform and rewards could be monetised through Discovery Miles.
BUSINESS REPORT