THE Bank of Namibia announced yesterday that e-Bank Limited has been granted a provisional license valid for a period of six months as from 1 August to allow it to set up its operations.

"The public is therefore hereby notified that during this provisional license period, e-Bank Limited may not in any way engage in any formal or informal banking business with any customers, especially soliciting of public deposits, until a certificate of authorization to commence banking business is issued by the Bank of Namibia.

"The Bank of Namibia therefore wishes e-Bank Limited success on their future endeavours within the Namibian banking sector as a new entrant," the Bank of Namibia said in a statement.

According to Monica Kalondo, Chairperson of e-Bank, this new generation banking model will facilitate economic inclusion for the broader Namibian public: "With economic inclusion we do not simply mean the enablement of transactional banking, but the full inclusion of citizens in all the elements of economic activity. This specifically includes access to transactional banking, access to savings mechanisms, access to insurance, access to loans and access to consumer education."

e-Bank has been established by Pointbreak, a Namibian Investment and Wealth Management Company, in association with TYME, a banking solutions provider, the primary instance of which is the MTN Mobile Money retail bank offering in South Africa.