Registered With The South African Reserve Bank In 2018, Bank Zero Is A Digital-only Mutual Bank In South Africa. It Offers Banking To Individuals And Businesses. Bank Zero Joins Other New Banks In South Africa, Such As TymeBank And Discovery Bank. Although A Soft Launch Was Initially Planned For The End Of 2019, The Bank Is Undergoing A Closed Launch And Beta Testing As Of June 2021, With A Proposed Launch Date Of Mid-2021.
History
In 2018, Bank Zero Was Co-founded With Several Former First National Bank Employees. The Bank Is 45% Owned By Black People And 20% By Women. Bank Zero Did Not Outsource The Traditional Pre-banking Service Package, Instead Relying On The Core Banking Platform. By The End Of 2018, After Integration With The South African Reserve Bank, Bank Zero Became A Full Settlement Bank. In Early 2019, Bank Zero Integrated Into The Rest Of The National Payment System And Became A Full Clearing Bank With An Independent License. At The End Of 2019, Bank Zero Was Officially Certified By The South African Reserve Bank And MasterCard To Issue And Process Debit Cards.
Bank Zero Had Originally Planned To Trial Some Products At The End Of 2019, But Decided To Delay Its Launch Until 2020. The Launch Was Further Delayed, As Of January 2021, With The Hope Of Opening It To The Public In Mid-2021. The Bank Currently Insists On Being Cautious With Its Capital And Does Not Offer Credit. According To Their Literature, This Is The Situation In South Africa And Is Trying To Raise The Pressure On The Country's Economy.
Security
Bank Zero Uses The IBM Z Mainframe Computer And LinuxONE As A Security Platform That Can Prevent Data Breaches Through IBM's Secure Service Container.
Debit Card
November 2019, Reached An Agreement With MasterCard To Obtain A Patented Debit Card, Combined With An Internal Patented Security Program That Runs On The Latest MasterCard EMV Technology And Multi-layered Security Protocols. Instead Of Storing The Card Number Imprinted On The Card In A Magnetic Stripe And Card Chip, The Debit Card Provides Three Different Card Numbers For Each Card Number: The Embossed Number, The Magnetic Stripe, And The Card Chip. This Will Enable Bank Zero To Restrict Specific Types Of Transactions To Each Card Number. For Example, The Magnetic Stripe Card Number Can Only Be Used On ATMs And Point Of Sales End Points; The Card Chip Card Number Can Only Be Used On Point Of Sales Devices; And, The Embossed Number Can Only Be Used For Online Transactions.
The Bank Says This Will Greatly Reduce The Negative Impact Of Card Data Theft And Card Theft, Claiming Almost Secure Cards.
