FNB to give away a million eBucks to celebrate app’s third birthday

Back in 2011, First National Bank (FNB) stole a march on its South African competitors with the launch of a smartphone and tablet banking app. In the three years since, pretty much every other bank has followed suit, with each trying to outdo the others in terms of unique features.

No matter what happens though, FNB will always be able to claim the bragging rights for being first, something which undoubtedly helped it to being named the world’s most innovative bank in 2012.

To celebrate the app’s third birthday, the bank is giving away a million eBucks (R100 000) — its virtual rewards currency to a select few FNB account holders who use the app. In order to stand a chance of winning, people need to make a transaction on the latest version of on the FNB Banking App or RMB Private Banking App for Smartphones and Tablets.

App users that share the competition on Facebook and Twitter from the FNB Banking App will also stand a chance of winning an additional 500 000 eBucks (R50 000). There will be three winners, each month for three months.

While there have been a fair few victories for the bank when it comes to the app over the past few years, including winning MTN App of the Year last in 2013 and the Minister of Science and Technology’s award for overall excellence at the Technology Top 100 awards, not everything the app’s tried out has been a hit.

Geo-payments for instance was the flavour of the month in the South African tech space back in mid-2012. In the time since however, it’s failed to really take off.

According to FNB, its app user base is around 60% male and 40% female and is comprised mainly of users aged between 26 and 65 years. Of those, the bias appears to be heading toward an older demographic.

“We have seen that user demographic behaviour has begun to shift, with the largest proportion of users being 36-65. In our 36 and older base we have seen the amount grow to 45% dispelling the myth that Apps and smartphones are for the youth only,” says Sahil Mungar, Head of Sales and Marketing, FNB Mobile and Connect.