UNSGSA Queen Máxima meets with Discovery Bank

Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate (UNSGSA) for Financial Health met with Discovery Bank CEO, Hylton Kallner, to explore our behaviour-change programme, Vitality Money, and how it enables financial health.

Improving financial health around the world

This meeting was part of Queen Máxima's three-day visit to South Africa focused on supporting the private sector, policymakers, and regulators to improve the financial health of all South Africans. In South Africa, financial literacy is considered low, and many find it difficult to confidently manage their day-to-day finances to make ends meet, build up savings for emergencies or save enough for retirement and other long-term goals like buying property, which have been identified by the UNSGSA as the fundamentals of achieving financial health.

The UNSGSA Queen Máxima, in her role as the UNSGSA for Financial Health, leads a global advocacy effort to enable the development and delivery of financial solutions and products that improve financial health for households around the world. She believes technology will play an increasingly important role and that digital advancements in financial services create vast potential to drive financial health globally. Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Financial Health (UNSGSA) emphasised that while South Africa has made notable strides in financial inclusion, the lack of financial health is weakening resilience and stalling inclusive growth. The UNSGSA encouraged financial institutions to treat financial health as a core business goal and emphasised that financial health is good for customers, good for the bottom line, and good for the nation.

Discovery Bank CEO, Hylton Kallner, said, "It was an honour for us to host UNSGSA Queen Máxima to show how as a fully digital bank, we apply our shared-value banking model and Vitality Money to encourage and reward positive behaviour change that support our clients' financial health. The UNSGSA Queen Máxima's focus on financial health, and how it is defined, is very much aligned with the premise of Vitality Money, with data and digital technology playing a fundamental role. Discovery Bank has since inception seen an opportunity to improve the financial health of millions of South Africans."

Addressing financial knowledge and behaviour

Discovery Bank is focused on addressing financial challenges by encouraging behavioural changes that account for approximately 80% of the reasons why people experience defaults and financial shortfalls. The behaviours Vitality Money encourages include spending less than you earn, saving regularly, insuring for adverse events, paying off property, and investing for the long term.

In Discovery Bank, our ecosystems are designed to benefit the wellbeing of our clients from a single, digital app. Using data and behavioural science, clients receive personalised nudges that encourage them to complete actions that increase their ability to improve their financial wellbeing and give them opportunities to earn higher rewards. Financial awareness and education, through budgeting and other tools that we incorporate in Vitality Money, are also crucial for good financial decision-making. "What we have seen, is that it's more about what you do with your money and knowing how to manage it, than about how much you earn that will ultimately determine financial health," Kallner said.

The success of Vitality Money

A couple, attending the event as special guests, confirmed the value of the financial education tools. They enrolled on a financial education course offered by Worth through Vitality Money in the Discovery Bank app. Following this, they used the budgeting and financial planning features of Vitality Money, which have helped them track expenses, manage debt, and set their goals of owning a home and being debt-free.

Clients who participate in the programme have a lower likelihood of defaulting on repayments, regardless of income level. Those who reach Gold and Diamond Vitality Money status are also 97% less likely to be behind on payments and have 11 times more deposits in savings compared with those who are unengaged in the programme.

Kallner said, "Digital banking not only increases financial inclusion and safety, but we also have an important role to play in education and financial wellbeing across income groups. Through Vitality Money and digital tools, such as Discovery AI, we are creating a banking offering that connects with the needs of clients and gives them support to achieve financial health and enjoy the many rewards of positive behaviour change. It's encouraging to know that we align with the vision of the UNSGSA Queen Máxima in this important work."