**The Vitality Active Rewards money goals have been updated since this article was published. Please visit the Vitality Active Rewards update page for the most up to date information.**

From 1 June 2020, we can look forward to relaxed lockdown rules with the implementation of level 3 lockdown measures across the country. This means a gradual opening of the economy and fewer restrictions.

Money goals returning to normal

Due to easing shopping restrictions, your Vitality Active Rewards money goals will revert to what it was before lockdown. From Saturday, 30 May 2020, all Vitality Active Rewards money goals will start to return to normal and all qualifying online and in-store Discovery Bank debit and credit card transactions will count towards your Vitality Active Rewards money goal, as it did before.

More freedom to exercise

It's time to get moving and get rewarded. As exercise restrictions continue to ease, Vitality Health will gradually adjust your personalised Vitality Active Rewards exercise goals from 30 May 2020, based on your activity levels.

Note: Your Vitality Active Rewards drive goal will remain the same for now. To see all your Vitality Active Rewards goals, log in to the Discovery app and navigate to Vitality Active Rewards.

For more information about Vitality Active Rewards goals, please see the Vitality Active Rewards update.

To help you and your family eat healthy and take care of your personal care needs, we've been working together with Vitality Health to bring you boosted discounts of up to 100% back on HealthyFood purchases and up to 75% back on HealthyCare items.

Now, we're making exercising more affordable too - with up to 75% back on HealthyGear items at Sportsmans Warehouse or Totalsports.

Double the Vitality Health rewards

From 1 May 2020, Vitality Health members with an active HealthyGear benefit can get up to 50% off HealthyGear items when they shop online or in-store. This includes home-gym equipment, heart-rate and fitness devices, and activewear and footwear.

Discovery Bank clients get even more rewards

Discovery Bank clients can earn up to an additional 25% back. This means that our clients with both Vitality Health and Vitality Money memberships who have activated the HealthyGear benefit will be able to get up to 75% back on HealthyGear purchases.

Remember:

• You need an active HealthyGear benefit to earn HealthyGear rewards from Vitality Health or Vitality Money.
• You get the full HealthyGear reward when shopping at your preferred partner, which you selected when you activated the benefit.
• Your personalised Vitality Money rewards are based on your Vitality Money status and your selected Discovery Bank products. Use the Vitality Money Calculator to see what your status would be if you joined Discovery Bank today.
• You need to have completed the necessary health and fitness assessments.

Stay healthy, stay safe

Want to get all your HealthyFood purchases paid back to you? Well, with Discovery Bank, you can. Your Vitality Money status from Discovery Bank is the key that unlocks your potential to get up to 100% back on HealthyFood items.

And now, anyone can find out what they get back in HealthyFood rewards.

Determine your personalised rewards

As a Discovery Bank client, you can get your Vitality Money status by setting up Vitality Money on the Discovery Bank app and completing your Vitality Money Assessment. But, with the newly launched Vitality Money Calculator, anyone can complete the assessment on the Discovery website and find out their status and unique HealthyFood rewards.

Your financial behaviours determine your rewards

To calculate your Vitality Money status, we need to know a bit more about you and your financial behaviour. It?s quick and easy to complete and measures your current financial situation across five key financial behaviours.

Get Discovery Miles for your boosted Vitality rewards

Discovery Bank clients with both Vitality Money and Vitality Health memberships get select Vitality rewards in Discovery Miles. And it is not just HealthyFood rewards either -  with Discovery Bank and Vitality you also get boosted HealthyCare rewards. Check out this update for more information on these boosted rewards.

So, what are you waiting for? Find out your Vitality Money status and HealthyFood rewards within minutes with the Vitality Money Calculator.

With the easing of lockdown restrictions, we encourage you to continue practising good hygiene and maintain social distancing and mask etiquette while you're out shopping. At Discovery Bank, we've got a number of ways to help make your shopping experience not only quicker but also safer and more rewarding.

By using any of our contactless payment methods, you'll avoid unnecessary contact at the tills. Your Discovery Bank card has contactless technology so you can simply tap your card on the card machine to pay wherever you see the contactless payment symbol. You can also use any compatible Fitbit, Garmin or Samsung device linked to your debit or credit card to pay without having to take your physical bank card out of your pocket - so you're spoilt for choice when the time comes to pay.

Win one of three smart devices

We've got a Fitbit Charge 4 Fitness Tracker or a Fitbit Aria Air Smart Scale, Garmin vivoactive 4 or 4s or Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 up for grabs. Here's how you can stand a chance of winning one:

• Use your Discovery Bank card's contactless payment function - Tap to pay at the till.
• You can also set up Fitbit Pay, Garmin Pay or Samsung Pay by linking your Discovery Bank card to your digital wallet.
  • Make sure your Discovery Bank card is loaded as the primary payment card before your next trip to the store.

The competition runs from 5 June 2020 to 5 July 2020. You'll get an automatic entry into the draw for every qualifying contactless transaction you make, so the more you tap, the greater your chances of winning.

You'll also earn Discovery Miles

Tap-and-go payments aren't only the most convenient way to pay but also one of the most rewarding because you'll also earn Discovery Miles for all qualifying purchases linked to your credit card. You could earn up to one Discovery Mile for every R15 you spend depending on the type of Discovery Bank product you have and your Vitality Money status. You can spend your Discovery Miles at a range of in-store and online partners, or even convert them to cash.

We've got even more ways to help you make cashless payments safely and securely like Discovery Pay and Health Banking - all designed to help you spend less time banking and more time doing things that matter to you.

Competition terms and conditions apply.

Discovery Bank has you covered with a gift for every kind of dad this Father's Day. Celebrate fatherhood and get them gifts they'll love -  Discovery Miles give you a world of choice and makes shopping for dads more exciting and rewarding.

Spend your Discovery Miles on the one you love

Whether they're adrenaline junkies, masters of DIY or tech-heads, Discovery Bank clients have so many ways they can spend their Discovery Miles to treat their dads:

• Shop online - Shop from the comfort of your home from a range of online partner stores, which include Sportsmans Warehouse, Takealot, Incredible Connection, and more.
• Shop in-store - Pay safely with your Discovery Miles at select in-store partners like Totalsports, Golfers Club and Pick n Pay by using the QR code payment method on the Discovery Bank app.
• Stay connected and get an exclusive 15% discount when you use your Discovery Miles to purchase airtime, data and SMS bundles through the Discovery Bank app.
• Redeem rewards - Vitality members can redeem Discovery Miles through Vitality Active Rewards for awesome online and in-store treats at Loot.co.za, Netflorist, Sunglass Hut, and more, on the Discovery app.

Keep the spoils coming by earning even more Discovery Miles

Besides earning Discovery Miles on all your qualifying credit card spend, Discovery Bank clients can also earn Discovery Miles as follows:

• Get Discovery Miles for your HealthyLiving (HealthyFood, HealthyCare and HealthyGear) purchases. If you're a Vitality Health member, you get up to 100% on HealthyFood items and up to 75% on HealthyCare and HealthyGear purchases back in Discovery Miles.
• Achieve your weekly Vitality Active Rewards goals by keeping fit, driving well and spending responsibly to earn plays on the gameboard where you can earn up to 750 Discovery Miles per play.
• Get up to 20% back in Discovery Miles on qualifying fuel spend (at any BP and select Shell service stations) and Uber rides.

Haven't joined Discovery Bank yet?

You're missing out - Discovery Bank clients enjoy more rewards. Upgrade to Discovery Bank today to enjoy even more ways to earn and spend Discovery Miles when you get a Discovery Bank Card Account or Discovery Bank Suite.

Discovery Bank Limited. Registration number 2015/408745/06. An authorised financial services and registered credit provider. FSP number 48657. NCR registration number NCRCP9997. Limits, terms and conditions apply.

Discovery Vitality (Pty) Ltd is an authorised financial services provider. Registration number 1999/007736/07. Limits, terms and conditions apply.

As part of our continued drive to help our clients maintain their physical and financial health, we are happy to announce another Discovery Bank initiative to support you during this COVID-19 time.

We know it isn't easy to work out and keep moving while you're at home - which is why Discovery Bank clients with both Vitality Money and Vitality Health are rewarded even more for making the effort to exercise during this challenging time. For each exercise point you earn from Vitality Health, Discovery Bank will reward you with one Discovery Mile.

That means if you earn 100 Vitality exercise points this week, we'll reward you with 100 Discovery Miles in your Discovery Miles account. All the exercise points you earn from 18 April 2020 until 29 May 2020 will be rewarded with additional Discovery Miles, starting on 30 April 2020 and every Friday thereafter.

You can see the full terms and conditions here.

Going forward, Discovery Bank clients with Vitality Money will get select Vitality rewards awarded to them in Discovery Miles. These rewards will include the boosted rewards from Vitality Health and Vitality Money that are active during the stay at home period.

The Vitality rewards you will receive in Discovery Miles therefore include:

• Up to 100% back on HealthyFood items from Pick n Pay or Woolworths.
• Up to 75% back on HealthyCare items from Clicks or Dis-Chem.
• Up to 50% back on HealthyGear items from Sportsmans Warehouse or Totalsports.

Discovery Bank clients with Vitality Money will also receive their Team Vitality, HealthyDining, Shoe Booster, Device Booster and Bike Booster rewards in Discovery Miles. These rewards will be awarded to them at a rate of 10 Discovery Miles per R1 earned back. They will continue to receive cash back or upfront discounts as usual for flights, Dream Destinations holidays, gym, and the Apple Watch and iPhone benefits.

The Discovery Miles for each individual Vitality reward will be added to the client's Discovery Miles account in line with the specific benefit's reward date.

The HealthyFood and HealthyCare campaigns are limited to the COVID-19 stay at home period, subject to change. For more information, you can read the campaign's full terms and conditions.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the creation of the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund as part of the interventions the government has put in place to help SME businesses during the COVID-19 period. This fund will not only aid owners and employees of small businesses during this time, but it will also play a major role in combatting the effects the lockdown will have on our country's already fragile economy.

You can contribute to the Solidarity Response Fund from the Discovery Bank app

At times like this, it is important that we stand together and support each other. If you'd like to make a donation to the Solidarity Response Fund, you can now do so directly from one of your accounts on the Discovery Bank app. Donate your Discovery Miles from your existing available balance directly to the Solidarity Response Fund.

What's more, if you choose to donate from your Discovery Miles, the Discovery Fund will match any contributions you make and donate the same amount of Discovery Miles to the Solidarity Response Fund.

Follow these steps to donate

You can donate cash or Discovery Miles to the fund in two ways:

• Go to your transaction account, Demand Savings Account or Discovery Miles account and click on the Donate to COVID-19 Solidarity Fund button, and confirm the amount you wish to donate.
  or
• Tap on Pay and search for COVID-19 Solidarity Fund loaded as a public beneficiary, and confirm the amount you wish to pay.

Referencing and fees

The reference for the donation will automatically be populated with your ID number. This will ensure that the fund can easily find your donation if you have any queries. By using your ID number as reference, you will also be able to request a tax certificate from the fund if needed.

The contribution towards the fund will be processed as an EFT to a public recipient, so costs involved will be the same as any EFT on your Discovery Bank product. If you need more information about the cost of EFTs on your account, please see your account's fees guide.

You can also donate your Discovery Miles through Vitality Active Rewards

You can also choose to donate your Discovery Miles through Vitality Active Rewards #MoveToGive. And again, the Discovery Fund will match any contributions you make and donate the same amount of Discovery Miles. All you have to do is:

1. Activate Vitality Active Rewards through the Discovery app.
2. Achieve your personalised weekly exercise, drive or money goal to earn instant Discovery Miles plus a play on the gameboard.
3. Pick a tile on the gameboard to reveal even more Discovery Miles.
4. Spend 1 000 Discovery Miles to donate R100 to the Solidarity Fund through Vitality MoveToGive. Terms and conditions apply.

Note: The Discovery Fund will match all Discovery Miles donations to the SA Solidarity Response Fund or through #MoveToGive to a cumulative value of R500 000.

We want to make sure our clients eat healthy and continue to take care of their health and wellbeing while they're at home.

Vitality Health members can now get double their rewards on HealthyFood items at Pick n Pay or Woolworths with the HealthyFood benefit. And because social distancing comes with its own personal care needs, Vitality Health members can also get double their HealthyCare rewards on essentials from Clicks or Dis-Chem. This means instead of up to 25% back, you can now get up to 50% back on HealthyFood and HealthyCare from Vitality Health during the stay at home period.

If you are a Discovery Bank client, this means that by combining your Vitality Health rewards and your Dynamic Discounts from Vitality Money, you will be able to get up to 100% back on HealthyFood items and up to 75% back on HealthyCare items. And since we know your monthly spend may be lower at this time, we don't want you to lose out. So, until further notice, we'll give you the maximum Vitality Money HealthyFood reward percentage available on your Discovery Bank product at your preferred partner. This will be based on your Vitality Money status, regardless of how much you spend on your Discovery Bank credit card in the month. You'll receive these rewards in Discovery Miles at a rate of 10 Discovery Miles for every R1 earned back.

Remember, to earn your total reward when shopping for HealthyFood, you need to:

• Activate Vitality Money on the Discovery Bank app and activate the HealthyFood benefit by linking your partner loyalty cards.
• Swipe your partner loyalty card in-store or enter the loyalty card number online for every transaction. Make sure you are using the correct loyalty card, which should be linked to the primary accountholder's ID number.
• Pay for your items using your qualifying Discovery Bank credit card.
• Purchase items either in-store from HealthyFood partners, or through their online channels. Purchases made through third party applications may not qualify for rewards.

*The HealthyFood and HealthyCare campaigns are limited to the COVID-19 stay at home period, subject to change. For more information, you can read the campaign's full terms and conditions

The last thing we want for our clients to worry about during this time is that they're not swiping their card often enough to achieve their Vitality Active Rewards money goal. Therefore, for the duration of the COVID-19 period, we're reducing the weekly goal to just one transaction per week, to accommodate limited spending.

This means that all you have to do to close your Money ring is to use your Discovery Bank debit or credit card to make one purchase of at least R50, or two purchases of at least R20 each, online or in-store to achieve your money goal each week.

Vitality will be updating the points needed for all other Vitality Active Rewards goals too. See a full update on the Vitality Active Rewards points changes here.

In light of what has been going on around the world regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, Formula 1 have decided to postpone the Heineken F1 Joburg Festival scheduled to take place on Sunday, 29 March 2020.

We fully support Formula 1's decision. We are a company and bank that gets behind your health, personal and financial, and are committed to always taking steps to ensure that all our stakeholders are supported and protected. Keep yourself informed on COVID-19 on our information hub.

The next steps for the F1 Joburg Festival

For now, you can keep up with all the news by joining the conversation on F1's social media platforms.

All fans who purchased tickets for the event will be offered a full refund.  Tickets can be returned at any Shoprite, Checkers, Checkers Hyper, Computicket outlets or House and Home stores for a full refund until 13 April 2020.

All uncollected tickets and print-at-home transactions made via the call centre and website will be refunded automatically and will reflect within 3-7 working days.

Start a healthy habit instead of a New Year's resolution. Set your savings goal for the next six months, meet it and we could match it!

How it works

• Log in to your banking app
• Nominate a qualifying Discovery savings account by renaming it to Savings Goal  or click on add account to open a qualifying savings account before the end of February 2020.
• Qualifying Discovery savings accounts include new or existing Discovery Savings Accounts, Discovery Notice Savings Accounts, or Discovery Tax-Free Notice Savings Accounts. They also include new Discovery Fixed Deposit Accounts with an investment term of six months or more, but exclude any existing Discovery Fixed Deposit Accounts and Vitality Savings Accounts.
• Deposit a minimum of R500 each month into your nominated qualifying account until the end of July 2020 or deposit a minimum of R3 000 once-off into it before the end of February 2020.
• The deposits must stay in the account until the end of the promotion to qualify for the prize.
• Remember that new Discovery Tax-Free Notice Savings Accounts require an initial minimum deposit of R1 000, and new Discovery Fixed Deposit Accounts require a once-off minimum deposit of R10 000 and don't accept additional deposits.

If you're selected as one of the five lucky winners, we'll match the total deposits made into your 'Savings Goal' account between 15 January 2020 and 31 July 2020, up to the value of R10 000.

Find out more

Join rock stars, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Tommy Thayer, and Eric Singer, as they take stage in SA during their "End of the Road" final tour in July 2020! One show only! Get your tickets first with exclusive 48-hour early access.

Johannesburg, Ticketpro Dome, 25 July 2020

Be the first, book now - check your inbox for the booking link.

Discovery Life earned a podium finish for the Bank Integrator benefit in the 'Neobanks and Specialized Players' category at the Efma Customer Insight and Growth Banking Innovation awards in Paris recently.

The Discovery Bank Integrator is a world-first benefit that enables clients who engage in healthy financial behaviour to be rewarded with an upfront discount of up to 15% on their Discovery life insurance premiums.

Recognising the very best examples of banking innovations in multiple categories, the competition this year attracted 2 808 submissions from 658 institutions in 94 countries.

The lifetime benefits of behavioural banking

Discovery Life's head of technical marketing, Andrew Mc Currie said: "We are thrilled with this recognition. Through Discovery Bank - the world's first behavioural bank, and Vitality Money, a behaviour-based financial health programme - we can now give clients holistic advice on their financial health."

The Discovery Bank Integrator allows our clients to be rewarded with upfront life insurance premium discounts of up to 15% if they take out life insurance with Discovery Life and have a bank account with Discovery Bank. They also qualify for ongoing adjustments to their Discovery Life insurance premiums as they continue to engage in healthy financial behaviour.

How physical health affects financial health

The idea for the Discovery Bank Integrator stems from research that shows a link between financial and physical health. Simply put, when people are physically healthier, they tend to be financially healthier as well.

"By insuring people more accurately, we can reward clients better, for responsible financial behaviour regardless of their level of income," McCurrie added.

Efma, a not-for-profit association formed in 1971 by bankers and insurers, specialises in retail financial marketing and distribution. Today, more than 3 300 brands in 130 countries are Efma members, including over 80% of Europe's largest retail financial institutions.

Discovery Life Limited. Registration number 1966/003901/06, is a registered long-term insurer, and an authorised financial services and registered credit provider, NCR Reg No. NCRCP3555. Discovery Bank Limited. Registration number 2015/408745/06. An authorised financial services and registered credit provider. FSP number 48657. NCR registration number NCRCP9997. Limits, terms and conditions apply.

You might have seen our iPhone benefit trending in the last few weeks. This is because the amazing offer has people wanting to get on board, and get an iPhone on us. It sounds almost unbelievable - except that it is 100% legit. You can fund a new iPhone by meeting all of your weekly Vitality Active Rewards health, drive and money goals. It is the most affordable way to pay for your iPhone - with good behaviour.

The iPhone benefit is modelled on our successful Apple Watch benefit, with a few tweaks. "We brought you Apple Watch to help you exercise more and we saw a 34% increase in physical activity, so we wanted to take it further to bring you iPhone and encourage positive behaviour change in other aspects of your life like safer driving and healthier banking too, "said Discovery Chief Executive Adrian Gore.

The Apple Watch benefit had a phenomenal impact on physical activity around the world. An international study found that the concept of funding your watch by meeting exercise goals, increased activity levels by 34% for people with an Apple Watch, especially for members who were high-risk, with low physical activity levels. That's 4.8 extra days of activity per month, or two years of extra life. And a state-of-the-art watch you don't have to pay for if you stay moving and stay healthy.

Helping people bank healthier

Discovery Bank teamed up with Vitality and drew on this experience of how nudging behaviour can be a force for good, and applied it to getting people to change their money behaviours for the better. Seeing as the Discovery Bank app is like having a bank branch in the palm of your hand, the link between the bank and iPhone was a natural fit.

How it works

Qualifying Discovery Bank clients can activate the Vitality Active Rewards with iPhone benefit. You can choose from a variety of iPhones based on the type of account you have and the credit you have available. We'll help you fund your new iPhone based on your weekly Vitality Active Rewards exercise, drive and money goal achievement for 24 months.

Once you're a Discovery Bank client, with Vitality Money, get your new iPhone in these easy steps:

1. Activate Vitality Active Rewards on the latest Discovery app.
2. Go to the iPhone benefit on the Discovery Bank app to browse the iPhones you may qualify for and calculate your monthly cash back or repayments.
3. Visit an iStore near you to select your iPhone and complete your iPhone benefit activation.
4. Achieve your Vitality Active Rewards health, drive and money goals.

If you are a qualifying Discovery Bank client with only Vitality Money active, you can still activate the benefit and earn monthy cash back based on the number of Vitality Active Rewards money goals you achieve.  

Want to upgrade your phone? Upgrade your bank.

Download the Discovery Bank app to get started or find out more about how to upgrade to Discovery Bank. 

Read more here https://www.discovery.co.za/vitality/iphone-benefit

Adrian Gore, Discovery's CEO popped in to the Primedia studios to chat to host Anele Mdoda and the 947 Breakfast Club listeners about behavioural banking. Watch here or read about the highlights of his visit below.

Adrian explained that behavioural banking is actually very simple: "If people manage their money well, they create value which Discovery Bank can then share back with them in better interest rates and rewards. It is much like our Vitality model. If you manage your money well, we reward you with great benefits and value. These are substantial benefits, too."

Anele agreed that this is such an important concept for every South African who has trouble managing their money. "I think we are looking for someone to help us change our relationship with money," she says.

Adrian shared some of the learnings about how the Vitality physical activity model has taught Discovery about rewarding good behaviour: "From [studying] the Vitality model, we know how to guide behaviour in a healthy way, through nudges. We will focus on the five key areas where people mismanage their money and offers so much value for addressing these, that people do change behaviour."

The five key behaviours to improve are:

• Managing your debt buy spending less than you earn
• Investing for the future, or retirement
• Paying off your property
• Having insurance for life's surprises, and
• Saving regularly to create sufficient savings for emergencies.

"As a bank client, and a Vitality client, you get substantial Vitality points and rewards, including higher rates on savings. Up to 7.5%, for instance, on 'lazy balances' or positive balances which earn no interest or very little interest. And, pay as little as prime -1 on borrowings," he said.

In addition, there are boosts to existing Vitality benefits like HealthyFood, HealthyGear and HealthyCare. "As an example, you can get up to 75% off healthy food at Woolworths, flight savings, etc. So we are stacking up the rewards you are used to, as well as offering this amazing rewards currency, Discovery Miles, which you can spend on just about anything," said Adrian.

Listeners were encouraged to share how they were managing their money against the five behaviours, and Adrian recognised their efforts by giving away two dream holidays!

• Watch the full video of the visit here and upgrade your bank now.

"Get on board!" as we usher in a new dawn of banking with the launch of our very first Discovery Bank ad campaign! The campaign premiered on Sunday, 1 September, and showcases the charm and charisma of various South Africans as they motivate you to get on board, and join Discovery Bank. A true testament to the innovative, trend-setting, alluring, and colourful personality that is the Discovery brand.

And because a bank like no other deserves a campaign like no other, the ad also features our Discovery ambassadors Caster Semenya, Wayde van Niekerk, Chad le Clos, and Lucas Redebe, with a special performance from the Ndlovu Youth Choir who just made it to the semi-finals of America's Got Talent!

Spearheaded by the "Get on Board" earworm, our campaign also introduces a series of humorous functional ads that promote the various unique Discovery Bank offerings. Furthermore, the campaign will live across numerous marketing communication channels such as billboards, radio, point-of-sale, digital, and social media, with the aim of driving consumers to visit the website and download the Discovery Bank app.

Watch, sing along, and share our new ad!

 

If you haven't yet, get on board to upgrade your bank to Discovery Bank now.

We're very excited to announce the latest addition to our team. Francois Groepe joined the Discovery Bank team on 1 August 2019 as our deputy CEO.

Before joining our team, Francois was deputy governor at the South African Reserve Bank, where he served on the Board of Directors for 14 years, seven of which as an executive overseeing various functions - including the Fintech Unit. Before this, he was the Group Managing Director and CEO of Media24.

Francois is 49 years old, a proud father of two sons, loves to braai and cook, with a personal collection of over 350 cooking books.

"We're pleased to welcome Francois who brings with him tremendous experience in both the corporate and regulatory environments. He is a seasoned executive and will be a valuable addition to our team." said Barry Hore, our Discovery Bank CEO.

This is what Francois had to say about his new appointment:

"The South African financial services landscape is undergoing significant structural change and Discovery Bank, which is the world's first behavioral bank, will be playing a key role in this changed landscape. I look forward to being part of this exciting transition."

Welcome to the team, Francois!

Good news - we've successfully completed our early onboarding period and are now ready to go public and scale our behavioural retail bank up in phases. Here's the latest.

For those wondering why the early onboarding phase took longer than expected, we found it vital to check and recheck due to the sophistication of our underlying systems and the complexity of the task.

Our digital bank has over 120 distinct and connected systems. In order to ensure that these systems integrate properly and create a seamless experience for our clients, we needed to get four structural factors in perfect working order:

1. The integration of full-scale digital banking functionality for clients within the Discovery ecosystem - in other words, we needed to ensure that all the different products and features "speak" to each other properly.
2. The systems and technology infrastructure - this is the backbone of all banking operations, after all.
3. The rewards architecture - so that our clients can earn and enjoy all their rewards from the get-go.
4. The migration of existing Discovery Card holders - to make sure that the clients in the first phase is experiencing an effortless transition to their new accounts.

Sophisticated structures beneath make for a seamless interface up top

Discovery Bank is mobile-first and deposit-led, and offers clients sophisticated lending capabilities from the get-go. As you can imagine, building these systems was uniquely complex, as the systems need to bring together all the functionalities you'd expect from a traditional bank and interweave this with advanced digital system capabilities, Vitality incentives and Discovery Health systems. These integrated systems took an incredible 1.5 million hours to build!

We're focused on dazzling our clients

But it was all worth it in the end. The insights that were revealed in the rigorous onboarding phase have put us in a strong position to deliver a uniquely disruptive behavioural banking solution with the aspiration that it takes no more than three clicks to complete any task.

A prime example of this user-friendly consumer experience is our proprietary Smart Onboarding process, where both existing Discovery Card clients and new clients without credit are fully onboarded, compliance-checked, and transacting immediately - all in under five minutes!

So, what is the next step in onboarding clients?

We plan to onboard 1 000 clients per day by the end of August 2019, and scale further from there. While our existing Discovery Card clients will get first priority for onboarding, we're super-excited about the substantial show of interest from non-Discovery clients, and promise to make contact with every one of you!

Watch Adrian Gore, founder and Chief Executive of Discovery Limited, describe how Discovery Bank will make a difference to clients. He explains how the unique behavioural banking model differs from that of both traditional banks and new fintech; it offers a 'third way' by means of a sophisticated, intuitive bank that profoundly affects people's behaviour, helps them manage their money better and get rewarded for it.

Gore also talks about the bank's BEE scheme explaining the legislative, social and moral imperatives behind it. He elaborates on the bank's broad-based approach towards inclusive economic growth, which he sees as key to building a safer, secure, prosperous South Africa, and contextualises the Bank within Discovery's commitment to invest R13 billion in the country over the next five years.

Banking may have moved forward digitally, but limited functionality and design means that you may still need to pop into a bank branch every now and then to do your day-to-day banking. A fully digitised bank like ours offers real-time solutions, flexibility, accuracy and innovation that is designed to bring you a seamless banking experience from the palm of your hand.

The Discovery Bank app is designed with you in mind. Packed with hundreds of features, you can go from signing up in minutes, personalising your accounts and cards, making payments using smart payment features like Samsung Pay, Garmin Pay and Fitbit Pay, viewing and managing your accounts from a single dashboard to managing your family's finances. You can even build your own statements and transaction history by grouping, sorting and filtering receipts and transactions.

It doesn't end there! With Vitality Money you can track your spend, set up budgets and financial goals and use our range of innovative money management tools - all while getting rewarded for getting financially healthier. That's just a sneak peak of what you can look forward to.

We are turning banking on its side and have put the power back in your hands - bank easily, securely and quickly, so you can spend more time doing the things you love.

Keep an eye on out for more updates and the latest Discovery Bank news.

After six months of alpha testing, we are thrilled to have kicked off our beta testing and are inviting our Discovery staff members to join. We've designed a banking solution that lets people manage their money better - one that will leave everyone wondering why it was never done this way before.

We're also busy dialling up our operations in anticipation of bringing more of our clients across when Discovery Bank officially opens its doors to the public. Our main goal is to help people improve their financial health by changing the way they work with their money.

We've had an incredible response to the launch of the Discovery Bank so far, with thousands of people adding their name to our list to be first to join once we're up and running for everyone. Remember, the bank is open to all South Africans and you don't need a Discovery product to join, but obviously if you already are a client, you'll enjoy more rewards through integration.

We look forward to reaching out to all the people who left their details with us first, and will be sharing more info with them over the next few weeks and months. You can also stay tuned to this news site for the latest on how Discovery's helping SA bank healthier?

Discovery Bank has done the research, and it boils down to this: If South Africans, as individuals and as a nation, want to move forward socio-economically - we desperately need to reduce our debt and foster a healthier savings culture.

There are now eight million more credit-active consumers than the total number of employed people in South Africa. And the problem is bigger than these figures reveal, because they don't account for informal debt like private loans.

By and large, South Africans are big borrowers and poor savers, but 5 financial behaviours can help people become financially healthier. Learn what they are, and how strong incentives to improve these behaviours can help South Africans become more money-savvy. Find a case for behavioural banking here.

In 2019, Discovery Bank - the world's first behavioural bank - will be available to the South African public. Simply put, it's a bank that will guide, motivate and reward you for getting financially healthier. If you're unsure how the bank will help you manage your money better and what Vitality Money is, we've put together a summary.

The article explains how your Vitality Money status is formed, how you can earn points to increase it, and what rewards you can expect for doing so. These include Dynamic Interest Rates, boosted Vitality rewards and the ability to earn more rewards for spending responsibly and hitting all your weekly Vitality Active Reward goals. We also give you a snapshot of our wide range of partners for Discovery Bank's boosted Vitality rewards. Learn more here.

At Discovery, we take our research very seriously. We're committed to verified data collection, rigorous analysis, input from a range of fields for diverse and holistic perspectives, the best in thought leadership and behavioural theory, and long-term solutions that align with our shared-value model. That's why we put so much time and effort into white papers - we know that by understanding the challenges South Africans face, we'll be better placed to help solve them.

In this research report, 'Banking for a Stronger South Africa', we present relevant (and worrisome) statistics about the current financial health of South Africans. We then delve into behavioural theory and the human biases that impact how people understand and engage with their finances, showing how changing five simple behaviours can have a massive impact on financial health. Dig into the details here.