Bank Zero has entered its alpha testing phase after announcing that it has been integrated with the national payments system of the SARB.
The aim of the alpha testing is to see a small team validating the bank’s end-to-end live systems and processes.
In recent interviews, Bank Zero cofounder Michael Jordaan has made it clear that the bank will offer new, innovative banking at low costs – and high interest for savings.
Jordaan said that the IT costs of Bank Zero work out to “1% of 1%” of what it costs to run a traditional IT system, which allows the bank to charge lower fees and “survive on smaller margins”.
Bank Zero also told MyBroadband that it will offer more comprehensive functionality through great products and services.
This will all be backed by Bank Zero’s innovative app and back-end design that provides enhanced security by “using the latest thinking and cutting-edge technology”.
“Bank Zero’s smart ecosystem will enable true financial connectedness in an already digitally and socially connected world,” the bank said.
Bank Zero’s also aims to add innovation through its partnership with Mastercard – more specifically, its “new generation of card” that is aimed at providing cutting-edge security and powerful features.
Bank Zero will run on IBM LinuxONE, a scalable and secure cloud and data platform which can deploy IBM’s Secure Service Container to protect against data breaches and a variety of other threats.
This platform is designed to deliver high levels of security and low running costs, and for this reason it is popular with digital-only banks around the world.
