20Twenty was an online South African

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bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

that specialized in no-frills

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. It focused on offering low transaction costs with low interest rates on loans whilst offering higher interest rates on savings. By the time of its closure in 2006 it had an estimated client base of 20,000 to 40,000 account holders. The bank was known for its customer service and loyal client base.

History

It was founded in July 2001 by South African internet entrepreneur Christo Davel. Due to the length of time and complicated bureaucratic process of setting up a bank in South Africa the company entered into a partnership with existing South African bank Saambou to use their

banking license In most legal jurisdictions, a financial institution is required to obtain a banking licence before it is legally permitted to carry on a banking business. Besides other requirements, such a business is not permitted to contain in its name words ...

. In the agreement Saambou obtained a 65% share in the company. It initially only offered customers a single account that was a combined current account and savings account and issued a single Master-Card that functioned as a credit and debit card. Shortly after the bank's launch its parent bank Saambou collapsed in 2002 resulting in the freezing of 20Twenty accounts. After 18 months of negotiations 20Twenty was sold to

Standard Chartered Standard Chartered PLC is a British multinational bank with operations in wealth management, corporate and investment banking, and treasury services. Despite being headquartered in the United Kingdom, it does not conduct retail banking in th ...

for US$10 million (R61 million) in August 2003. In November 2005 Standard Chartered put the bank up for sale. Two months later in January 2006 Standard Charted announced that it would be closing 20Twenty after failing to find a buyer.

References

Banks established in 2001 2006 disestablishments in South Africa South African companies established in 2001 {{Africa-bank-stub