FNB, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the JSE-listed FirstRand, has managed to win a large chunk of market share in the cell phone money market in the last five years.

This emerged on Friday, indicating that its big three peers, Standard Bank, Absa and Nedbank have been left behind leaking their wounds.

“There is no question that FNB is the market leader with regard to its mobile wallet,” Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx told Business Day on Friday. “Everyone else is busy playing catch-up.”

Cell phone money market is when the cellular phones are utilised to move money between account holders and the lenders themselves.

Account holders can do this to pay their monthly debts and purchase power for their homes and cell phone “airtime.”

Goldstuck said FNB’s achievement in this regard is due to FNB’s eWallet.

eWallet is a new form of sending and receiving cash. It was launched in 2009 and has grown exponentially since then.

FNB’s foremost competitor in this field is Nedbank’s M-Pesa solution.

According to FNB, the launch of this product has been informed by the need to make banking accessible and affordable to all South Africans.

eWallet has been a great success since its launch because it provides for the banking needs of all South Africans.