South Africa’ FNB’s Banking App has hit 1 million plus downloads, a testament to the progressive nature of South Africans and their choice to bank digitally says Giuseppe Virgillito, FNB Digital Banking.

Launched in July 2011, the Banking App has been used mostly for payments, account transfers and prepaid products. Other interesting transactions include Send Money, LOTTO & Powerball, Geo Payments, iTunes gift codes, and card services such as cancellations, upgrades and ordering of new cards.

On average, the bank says users  log in to the App 15 times per month and 59% are Millennials (aged 14-34), 36% are Generation X (aged 35-53) and 5% are Baby Boomers (aged 54-71). The bank says users of the App have reduced their reliance on branches, ATMs, and call centres to almost zero transactions per month and sees the trend as a means to reducing the dependency on cash and physical banking infrastructure.

As more and more users turn to smartphones from non-data phones, banks and educational institituions are forced to move with tends. Instead of heading to banking halls, users can use the apps for payments, transfers and prepaid purchases.