Should financial service providers take into consideration the positive behavioural change in consumers as part of their offering? Should the change be limited to only better financial management or have a broader connotation encompassing healthy living? Shared prosperity warrants an affirmative answer to both questions.
The idea is not utopian any longer. It is being put into practice by a South African financial group, Discovery. It emerged as the game-changer in the insurance arena when it helped a significant portion of its client base embrace a clean-eating, gym-going, safe-driving culture.
In 2019, the group launched Discovery Bank, the world’s first digital behavioural bank, in South Africa. Over a short span of two years, the bank has emerged as a key challenger bank witnessing a three-time faster growth in deposits relative to the market. Ranked as the seventh largest credit provider in South Africa, the bank boasts an arrear rate that is 65 per cent lower than that of