Cracking SA’s Wicked Problem in Digital Banking

The digital divide in South African banking is complex and deeply rooted:

• 3.5 million adults excluded from formal financial services

• 11 million lack reliable credit or savings options

• 49% of the African population struggles with effective internet use despite 72.6% mobile access

This is a wicked problem as it involves many interconnected social, economic, and technological factors, with multiple stakeholders and no simple solution.

Why it’s wicked:

• Interventions often have unintended effects, reinforcing inequality rather than reducing it

• The problem spans access, skills, and real-world outcomes like financial inclusion and education

• Different stakeholders i.e. banks, government, fintechs, communities, which have competing interests and resources

Systems thinking offers a way forward:

• It looks beyond isolated fixes to see how factors like income, education, digital skills, and infrastructure interact

• It identifies leverage points where targeted efforts can create broad, lasting change

• It requires collaboration across sectors to align goals and share resources

Examples in practice:

• Eskom applied systems thinking to break silos in managing water, energy, and climate risks

• Gauteng fintechs combine blockchain, AI, and customer insights to address fraud and improve digital access

• Banks like Capitec design digital platforms that consider not just technology but user behaviour, literacy, and affordability

How entrepreneurial orientation with systems thinking drives real impact:

• Innovativeness grounded in system insight: Capitec’s simple mobile app targets low-income users with limited data, addressing affordability and usability. Absa’s Khaya Call Centre offers tailored digital banking support for township customers, tackling access and financial literacy simultaneously.

• Risk-taking informed by systemic feedback: Absa uses AI-powered fraud detection to expand digital services securely for underserved segments. Partnerships with fintechs like Miden enable issuing virtual cards to unbanked customers at scale.

• Proactiveness through scenario planning: Banks anticipate future digital ecosystems by embedding banking in new channels. Nedbank’s investment in Africarare’s Ubuntuland metaverse shows forward-looking innovation beyond traditional banking.

• Multi-stakeholder collaboration: Absa collaborates with government and NGOs to deliver digital literacy and financial inclusion programs in rural areas, aligning efforts around key leverage points for greater impact.

This combination of entrepreneurial drive and systems awareness helps move solutions beyond pilots to build sustainable, inclusive financial ecosystems.

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