FNB Makes Sudden Changes to Ebucks

Golden Nuggets

• Namibia is emerging as Africa's next major growth story, with Standard Bank Namibia reporting strong financial results and loan growth outpacing the market despite global challenges.

• FNB made sudden, stringent changes to its eBucks rewards program, tightening rules around earning and redemption.

• Kenya Central Bank looks to Slash Mobile Money Fees: Kenya’s plan to reduce mobile money fees aims to cut average costs from KES 23 to KES 10 by 2028, promoting broader usage beyond basic transfers.

Main Stories

FNB Tightens the Screws on eBucks

Why it matters: Yikes. FNB, one of South Africa’s largest retail banks, has introduced sudden changes to its eBucks rewards program, limiting where users can earn and spend points, notably cutting off earning at iStore from July 2025.

Catch up: It made a second major adjustment to its eBucks earning rules in 2025, just months after the annual update. From November 2025, Premier and Private customers will earn 2,500 fewer levelling points due to tightened criteria on simple activities like monthly spending on virtual cards and app interactions. To offset losses, customers must buy costly insurance products with minimum covers of R4 million (Premier) and R6 million (Private). Aspire account holders face new minimum spend and behavioural requirements. This move has angered many customers, sparking social media backlash with threats to switch banks.

Details: Naturally, this move appears aimed at cost control and refining the rewards ecosystem amid evolving customer behaviour. Customers will now access Apple devices via a new eBucks Partner Shop on the FNB app, signaling a shift towards more controlled partner benefits. But customers don’t seem to pleased about it, with some customers saying eBucks is what made FNB attractive in the first place.

Be smart: Loyalty program users should review terms carefully to optimise eBucks earning and spending. This could signal further tightening in rewards programs industry-wide.

Namibia: Africa’s Next Big Growth Story

Why it matters: Namibia’s economy is poised for growth, with Standard Bank Namibia delivering a 10.1% profit increase and loan growth of 8.8%, outperforming the market average of 5.9%. This growth reflects strong domestic demand and effective risk management despite global economic uncertainties.

Details: Standard Bank Namibia’s robust results include a return on equity of 20.3%, an improved asset quality with a reduced non-performing loan ratio of 3.7%, and diversified revenue streams. Challenges remain with tightening liquidity and margin pressures, but the bank’s digital focus and disciplined cost control underpin confidence.

Be smart: Namibia’s rising financial sector offers valuable opportunities for investors and executives to watch as it becomes a regional economic hub.

CBK moves to cap fees on M-Pesa, Airtel cash transfers

Why it matters: Kenya is known as the birthplace of the mobile money revolution, where platforms like M-Pesa transformed how millions send, receive, and store money using their phones. But now, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) is taking bold new steps to make mobile money services even more affordable and inclusive.

Details: As of 2024, over 82% of Kenyan adults have access to mobile money accounts, a striking rise from just 27% in 2006. Yet the growth in active usage of these services is slowing, especially for advanced offerings like digital credit, insurance, and savings. One big reason? The high cost of transferring money between people, which can be as much as 6.9% of the amount sent in some cases.

What else? In its 2025–2028 National Financial Inclusion Strategy, the CBK proposes to slash these fees by over half: from an average of KES 23 (about USD 0.18) per transaction to KES 10 (USD 0.07). It also plans to cap fees for person-to-person (P2P) transfers, which dominate mobile money usage. The goal is to reduce barriers to using digital financial services and draw millions of low-income users deeper into the digital economy.

Be Smart: The CBK’s plan also includes rolling out a Fast Payment System to enable instant transfers anytime across banks, mobile wallets, and microfinance institutions. Open API standards and new technologies like AI and blockchain are encouraged to foster innovation and improve security. This is a blueprint for other African central banks in terms of how to execute financial inclusion.

Seacom 2.0 - Africa’s Next Digital Backbone

Why it matters: Seacom 2.0 is set to dramatically increase Africa’s internet capacity, powering fast fintech transactions, seamless e-commerce, and AI-driven services that demand ultra-low latency and massive bandwidth. As banking and digital services grow, so does the urgency for reliable backbone infrastructure.

Zoom In: The new cable will use 48 fibre pairs — a huge leap from the original 2009 cable — achieving speeds of 2,000 Tbps. The addition of a westward loop reaching Lobito, Angola, improves regional connectivity, reducing dependency on fewer landing sites and increasing resilience during cable faults.

So What: By expanding internet capacity before demand hits critical levels, Seacom 2.0 positions Africa to support the booming digital economy, from rural mobile banking to international fintech hubs.

Be smart: Keep an eye on how this infrastructure will influence regional banking innovations and digital financial inclusion.

Policy Watch

The Scoop

• Capitec’s offshore business, Avafin, has over 220,000 active clients and contributed R196 million to group net profit in 2025, expanding across Europe and Latin America.

• Buy in Chatgpt: OpenAI and Stripe pioneer AI E-commerce - now you can get a recommendation from ChatGPT and buy within the same window. Limited to North America.

• Robinhood, the investing app for Gen Z, finally enters the S&P 500.

• Wealthfront, the wealth startup that popularised robo-style investing, seeks an IPO.

Startup Spotlight

Rulebase
An African AI fintech startup that secured $2.1 million in pre-seed funding to automate compliance and risk workflows in financial institutions. Rulebase acts as an AI coworker, streamlining regulatory reporting, fraud investigations, and dispute resolution. Early clients report up to 70% cost savings and 30% fewer escalations. Backed by top VCs including Bowery Capital and Y Combinator, Rulebase looks to be setting new standards for compliance automation in the sector.

What to Watch

• SEACOM 2.0 subsea cable progress and early bids for construction, launching expected late 2029/early 2030.

• Monitoring Kenya’s Central Bank fee caps on mobile money transactions through to 2028

Toolkit

• Standard Bank Namibia financial reports

• FNB eBucks terms and updates

• Capitec Avafin operational overview

• SEACOM 2.0 project details

• Rulebase AI compliance startup

+ This

In 2029, SEACOM 2.0's subsea cable is set to go live, boosting Africa’s digital infrastructure with enough capacity to handle emerging AI and internet demands, linking the continent more robustly to global networks. Who knew a cable could be this cool?