South Africa’s First Fully Digital Bank Leverages GDS Link’s Modellica
Solution for Real-time Credit Decisioning

TymeBank is South Africa’s first fully digital bank focused on retail and business finances. With no physical branches, TymeBank’s core banking system is hosted securely on the cloud to provide over 1 million customers a transparent and easily accessible view of their finances.

Operating solely online allows TymeBank to reduce overhead and pass the cost-savings on to their customers. Through a distribution partnership with Pick n Pay and Boxer, TymeBank has kiosks located at stores across the country. Here, customers can open an FICA-compliant EveryDay account in under five minutes and be issued a personalized Visa debit card.

Customers can bank exclusively online using TymeBank’s SmartApp or internet banking to withdraw and deposit cash at more than 10,000 distribution points throughout South Africa.

This forward-thinking financial institution aims to empower South Africans to make informed monetary decisions today that translates into a secure financial future.

To support their Digital Banking offering and enhance the customer experience, TymeBank needed to launch a credit decisioning platform. Operating as a fully digital bank, they sought a platform that was secure, user-friendly and scalable enough to handle the more than 100,000 new customers they welcome each month.

TymeBank Chief Data Scientist Dietmar Bohmer said that the business needed to “deploy a real-time decisioning engine for the bank with access to multiple data sources.” Additionally, this new platform would need to work with TymeBank’s onboarding system and improve their customer experience.

Price, ROI and functionality were the top priorities for TymeBank as they searched for a partner. In addition to a system that could efficiently integrate with their own tools and calculate attributes in real-time, they also wanted to be confident in the company and team behind the platform.

After evaluating several potential partners, TymeBank felt that GDS Link was a great fit because they can provide proof of the platform’s success.

“GDS Link stood out on price and ROI,” Bohmer said of the choice. “Other providers could not compete.” TymeBank was confident that the team could deliver the results they desired at a fair price.

The TymeBank team leverages the GDS Link Modellica Origination Solution that includes data aggregation and decisioning platform for real-time credit decisioning. TymeBank was able fully utilize the solution within six months of deciding to partner with GDS Link.

“TymeBank got a real sense that GDS Link really knows how to build strategies for our products and terms,” Bohmer stated. “GDS Link is a company we felt very comfortable working with.”

The GDS Link Modellica Origination Solution allowed TymeBank to immediately implement the real-time decisioning they desired while keeping costs low and enhancing the customer experience.

“There is no system contention,” Bohmer said of the current use of the platform. “We don’t need any additional system resources. The system is very quick. We get the data; run a model and we get a response very quickly.”

As TymeBank executives had hoped, real-time decisioning is helping them expand their customer base. For instance, the company recently entered a promising partnership with the Zion Christian Church.

TymeBank is looking forward to continuing its partnership with GDS Link to grow their business. “Our long-term success will rely on accessing data sources that are currently available and will rely on GDS Link’s ability to access additional data sources in the future,” Bohmer said. “We will add four new data sources next year and four the following.”

Fully digital banks like TymeBank are making banking more accessible and understandable for their customers. GDS Link helps them in their mission with our solutions and analytics that efficiently pull data and provide real-time credit decisioning capabilities.

GDS Link is a global leader in credit risk management, providing tailored software solutions, analytical and consulting services. Our customer-centric risk management and process automation platforms are designed for the modern lender in their pursuit to capitalize on the entire credit lifecycle. By providing a personal, consultative approach and leveraging our own industry-leading knowledge and expertise, GDS Link’s solutions and services deliver exceptional value and proven results.