South Africa’s biggest retail banks for the wealthy each provide a top-tier account that is only available to the wealthiest citizens of the nation.
Each account has a minimum annual wage requirement that varies from R750,000 to R2.5 million or a significant minimum requirement for investable assets.
The high-income group is a lucrative market, even if South Africa’s banking industry has turned into a battleground for no-fee or low-cost accounts, hoping to entice the country’s unbanked.
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Often superior options exist internationally, outside of South Africa.
We recommend that most wealthy locals and expats invest offshore despite this list, and we can help with that.
Discovery Bank, a new player in the market, does not provide low-income or entry-level accounts but instead distinguishes itself by providing a unique “Purple” account with the highest salary criteria out of all the retail accounts promoted by the big banks for the wealthy.
An applicant for a Discovery Purple account must make at least R2.5 million yearly (more than R200,000 per month) in order to benefit from the significant savings and “bespoke account structure” on offer.
It costs R570 per month and R2,950 per year to maintain the Discovery Purple account.
Rewards consist of 65% back on nutritious food, 75% off exercise equipment, and 100% off gym memberships at Planet Fitness or Virgin Active locations in South Africa.
Discovery made it clear that a cardholder must maintain a monthly salary of R208,000 for 12 months in a row in order to continue to be eligible for some advantages, such as savings on business class flights.
FNB offers private wealth services that call for an R1.5 million yearly salary or an R15 million net asset worth. With such a salary requirement, it is surely one of the banks for the wealthy in South Africa.
The admission requirements for RMB Private Banking, which is closely affiliated with FNB as a member of the FirstRand Group, are identical to those for FNB Private Wealth and call for a minimum annual salary of R1.5 million or a minimum net asset value of R15 million.
An FNB Private Wealth account costs R529 per month to maintain, compared to R499 for FirstRand Bank’s corporate and investment division.
The eBucks Reward program, which FNB and RMB both use, offers discounts on items including technology, travel, and lodging. The following are some advantages that FNB and RMB provide to their higher-income clients:
Nedbank offers private wealth services that call for an R1.5 million annual salary or R5 million in investable assets.
With two cards available and a monthly fee of R468, the Nedbank Private Wealth package account is a transaction account.
This account provides cardholders with 24-hour service 365 days a year, among other things such as:
The Standard Bank Signature Account has bundled services and perks that cost R480 per month, with an additional R75 for Family Banking.
A few advantages are but are not exclusive to:
Investec, a private banking company, has previously kept quiet about the salary thresholds needed to get an account, but it has now opened applications to anybody making over R800,000.
The bank virtually solely caters to professionals and high-net-worth individuals, and it even attributes its success in surviving the nation’s turbulent economic climate in recent years to its extremely selective clientele.
With a base of at least R750,000, Investec is higher than Absa but lower than Standard Bank (a minimum of R1.1 million).
The Investec Private Banking Account costs R555 per month and comes with the following benefits:
The Absa Private Banking account has the lowest entrance barrier of all the listed banks for the wealthy in South Africa, with a monthly charge of R460 or R540 if linked to a Private Bank One or Structured Loan. Cardholders receive the following benefits: