This week digital banking platform TymeBank announced the proposed acquisition of Retail Capital, a fintech company that provides funding to SMEs and small businesses in South Africa.
While the acquisition is yet to get over the line, TymeBank is already planning for when it eventually happens, having also outlined the desire to expand its current business banking services on the back of this deal being completed.
“This acquisition will enable TymeBank to expand its offering to entrepreneurs to include working capital finance. Retail Capital has acquired significant risk management experience over the past decade and through different economic cycles. They have an experienced team in place and their risk models and operational processes have been battle-tested and optimised to a significant degree for small-business funding,” noted TymeBank CEO Coen Jonker, in a press release sent to Hypertext.
“Together, we look forward to providing access to innovative solutions to ensure business owners can fuel their growth, drive job creation and contribute to the broader economy,” he added.
For those unfamiliar with TymeBank’s business services, the platform has over 100 000 customers and includes offerings like a transactional business account that can be opened in under five minutes, zero monthly bank fees, free debit card and online purchasing transactions.
As for Retail Capital, over the past 10 years it has provided more than 43 000 business owners in South Africa with over R5.5 billion in working capital.
“Retail Capital already powers many industry-leading partners in the Acquiring, Retail and Payments space to support their SME customers and the tie-up with TymeBank will further enhance this offering to our partners’ customers. Both Retail Capital and TymeBank have the customer front of mind, and we see the strategic move as a positive one that will greatly assist all business owners in South Africa,” highlighted Retail Capital CEO, Karl Westvig.
With the deal still to be finalised, much of what will happen in the future remains conjecture at this point. That said, it looks like TymeBank is continuing to add more strings to its bow, having recently expanded to operate in new regions outside of South Africa.
