Rapidly Scaling a Leading Bank’s Money Transfer Network for Greater Reach

With around a quarter of South African adults remaining unbanked and four top banks dominating the money transfer market, a leading bank saw an opportunity to launch a money transfer product in 2022.

The bank wanted to expand their money transfer services and reach unbanked consumers and underserved rural areas by offering cardless cash-out options at retailers, merchants, and ATMs.

To be competitive, the bank required a solution with access to an extensive merchant and retail network that could be taken to market quickly.

By expanding their network, they could offer their customer base a secure, digital option for sending money and improve access to financial services for underbanked residents.

The Challenge

After identifying the opportunity to provide cash-out options allowing their customers to send money to unbanked and rural markets, the bank wanted to move quickly. While ATMs were a possible solution for expanding cash-out options, a large-scale retail network was required to provide their customers with additional value.
‍
The bank needed to provide secure cash-out services to their customers as soon as possible, without reputational risk due to downtime. However, they required easy access to a wide tier one retail network integration that could reach customers across South Africa. Competitors already had established services with a significant consumer base, so they needed to access this product or risk losing this opportunity to gain market share.
‍
The bank predicted high volumes so they needed a scalable way to manage voucher data and ensure full traceability. To achieve this they required a partner with a proven ability to handle high-volume, low-value transaction processing with secure practices and reconciliation.

The Solution

Electrum provided the bank with a scalable voucher solution that made it easy to expand their cash-out network to merchants and tier 1 retailers.
‍
The solution included:
1. Assisting the bank in creating their voucher-based money transfer product through Electrum’s modular cash voucher solution.
2. Connecting the Voucher Vault to ensure the function of the bank’s new product.
3. Integrating Electrum’s Money Transfer API with the bank’s internal systems.
Electrum’s Money Transfer API allowed the bank to integrate with merchants and tier 1 retailers quickly, with the ability to handle high-volume, low-value transactions as soon as they went live.
‍
In addition, Electrum’s existing integrations with leading retailers like Pick n Pay, Shoprite, and Boxer, combined with its widespread merchant network, allowed the bank to get to market quickly.
‍
Electrum implemented their modular solution to ensure the bank’s core systems were safe, handled high volumes immediately, and could go live quickly.
To solve the need for traceability and to handle the high volumes securely, Voucher Vault acted as a reliable store-of-value for every domestic money transfer voucher, ensuring that each transaction could be tracked and reconciled accurately. Through the Electrum Finance functionality, the bank could retrieve voucher details using the Voucher Management Module, giving support teams full visibility and improving customer service when issues arose.
‍
Since its implementation, the domestic money transfer product has grown considerably and consistently year-on-year, increasing by nearly 80% from 2023 to 2024 and around 50% from 2024 to 2025. Electrum has facilitated the transfer of millions of transactions monthly in partnership with the leading bank.

‍