Media Coverage
Lesaka outlines plans for its R1.1bn Bank Zero acquisition
11 Sept 2025
By Mudiwa Gavaza | Business Day
The integration of the bank will result in the group consolidating into a new proprietary core banking platform for consumers
Fintech group Lesaka Technologies is excited about the prospect of completing its R1.1bn acquisition of Bank Zero, a deal announced in June, and the opportunities set to flow from the integration.
The JSE- and Nasdaq-listed company, formerly Net1 UEPS Technologies, consists of two divisions: a merchant unit and a consumer segment. The consumer unit focuses on products such as unsecured credit, transactional banking, microinsurance and value-added services through the EasyPay platform.
By leveraging customer deposits, as opposed to normal bank loans, the group is hoping to use the Bank Zero deal to reduce its gross debt by R1bn.
The integration of the bank into Lesaka’s operation will result in the group consolidating into a new proprietary core banking platform for consumers, thereby reducing third-party dependencies and giving room to review sponsorship banking fees.
Elsewhere, the group sees an opportunity to cross-sell bank offering to merchants, while providing banking solutions to enterprise clients.
In addition, the group hopes to launch a suite of foreign currency products that would allow it to play in the competitive cross-border remittances market.
Bank Zero is among a group of challengers, including Discovery Bank, Old Mutual Bank, African Bank and TymeBank, that have sought to disrupt the country’s banking sector in recent years.
Founded in 2018, the mobile-only, app-based bank has a zero-fee banking model, offering both retail and commercial banking services. By the end of April 2025, it had a deposit base of more than R400m, and more than 40,000 funded accounts across SA.
This comes as Lesaka reported higher net revenue of R5.3bn ($328.7m) for the year to end-June — at the midpoint of its guidance — compared with R3.8bn a year ago.
For the fourth quarter , Lesaka’s net revenue was R1.5bn, up 47%.
The group reported its net loss widened to R1.6bn from a loss of R0.3bn a year ago, largely due to one-off costs and non-cash movements. This includes a tax adjusted R897.6m non-operating, non-cash charge relating to a change in fair value and sale of MobiKwik, impairment losses of R326.2m and one-off transaction costs of R321.9m.
Group adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) were up 33% to R922.2m.
Revenue for the consumer division increased 35% year on year to R1.74bn, with segment ebitda up 83% to R435m.
In the merchant business, net revenue increased 46% year on year to R2.995bn, with ebitda up 20% to R657m.
The group has also made a number of changes to its executive ranks, appointing former Uber and Starlink executive Kagiso Khaole as CEO of the merchant division, together with Roland Naidoo, who left MultiChoice to become COO of the unit.
At group level, Akash Dowra has been appointed chief strategy officer, joining from Deloitte, where he was managing partner of Deloitte Africa’s strategy and transactions advisory practice.
Lesaka chairperson Ali Mazanderani said the year “was a strong year for the group, delivering on our profitability guidance and advancing key strategic priorities. We expect to maintain this momentum into FY2026, and are guiding for adjusted ebitda growth of at least 35%.
“We have also introduced an adjusted earnings per share guidance, expecting this to more than double in FY2026 to at least R4.60, from R2.29 per share this year.”
In the current year, the group expects net revenue between R6.4bn and R6.9bn, while group adjusted ebitda is projected between R1.25bn and R1.45bn and net income attributable to Lesaka to be positive.
This guidance excludes the effect of the Bank Zero acquisition or any other deal activity that may take place.
This will be the first time the group is net income positive under Lincoln Mali, CEO of Lesaka Southern Africa, after years of work to revamp the once scandal-ridden entity.
Earlier in the year, Mali told Business Day: “The assurance we are giving the market is that our net income number will be positive come financial year 2026”.
At the time, he said the two levers that the group had to make this happen were to increase the scale of the business, and that certain noncash expenses and writedowns no longer weighed on performance.