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Gift vouchers via mobile, Facebook

27 February 2012

South Africa's First National Bank has introduced FNB Vouchers, through which its customers can buy vouchers using mobile banking, then send them as gifts to their friends via social networking site Facebook.

The vouchers, which are available to all of FNB's registered cellphone banking users, can only be redeemed in South Africa. The recipient can choose to redeem the voucher either as prepaid airtime, or to convert it to cash by using the bank's eWallet solution.

"Constant innovation is what drives us at FNB," says FNB cellphone banking CEO Ravesh Ramlakan. "It is through innovation that we are able to design and deliver solutions that add convenience to the lives of our customers."

South African cellphone users

FNB cellphone banking customers can buy these vouchers from R25 to R300, with limit of R1 500 per day. Only Facebook friends with a South African cellphone number can redeem these vouchers.

To ensure customers' safety during the buying process, the customer creates a unique PIN for each voucher. Without the voucher PIN, the voucher cannot be posted.

After the purchase, customers will receive an SMS that confirms their purchase and also includes the voucher number.

Customers then have to install the FNB Vouchers app on their Facebook profile to make use of the FNB Voucher solution.

Expanding to social networks

Using the Facebook FNB Vouchers app, they can assign a FNB Voucher to a friend by selecting a friend, entering your FNB voucher number and PIN that they had selected during purchase and send their gift.

The FNB Voucher will be posted to the customer's friend's wall. Only the friend to whom the FNB Voucher is sent will be able to redeem the voucher.

"The face of banking as we know it is continuously changing and as a bank we have seen the benefits of keeping abreast with the move towards the virtual world," says Ramlakan. "With increasing numbers of people joining and using social networks daily, this move was natural for us in terms of extending our reach and customer base."

SAinfo reporter