Are South African banks finally coming round?

My displeasure with the lack of small business support from South African banks are well documented and its safe to say that I'm not a fan by any stretch of the imagination.

Recent developments by a number of banks and specifically Nedbank really seems to be a step in the right direction. With new small business banking offerings and the recent announcement of a technological breakthrough that will make credit card payment available to most small businesses, it really seems that Nedbank is determined to change the negative public perception towards the lack of support for small business and entrepreneurs.

Following the trend from US and UK banks, Nedbank is now offering 1 year (and up to 2) of free banking to new businesses as well as much needed access to start-up finance via a minimum R100 000 start-up loan.

Nedbank also announced a great new service that will enable small businesses to accept credit or debit card payments via their mobile phones. Read the full story in the sabusinesshub forum.


These new services of course is very welcome but also very exciting as it will force other dinosaurs like ABSA, FNB and the others to become more pro-active in supporting small business owners whilst competing for your and our custom.

Lets trust that this is the first step towards better relations between corporate giants and small business.