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Daniel Rubenstein came up with the concept of MyTreasury when he sold his stake in Annuity Properties, where he had been a director, and wanted to place the sizeable amount of cash in a bank account that would serve as a holding vehicle while he decided what to do with the money. However, when it came to differentiating between all the savings products available through banks, he found it difficult.
Rubenstein is a qualified chartered accountant and is financially literate, so if he found it complex to objectively compare savings products, he could only imagine the difficulty for the average consumer.
Rubenstein approached Michael Kransdorff, who he had known since varsity, with the idea of building a platform that would allow South Africans to objectively compare savings products in order to find the one that suits their needs best and allows them to maximise their savings.
“I thought it was a great idea and we started developing MyTreasury at the beginning of the year. We launched in September,” says Kransdorff. Simon Shear also joined the team.
Given that South Africa’s savings culture is lagging, the message that is often punted is to tighten one’s belt in order to facilitate savings, explains Kransdorff.
However, the MyTreasury angle is slightly different. “We are obviously pro savings, and encourage people to do so… Generally the way most people have pitched savings is about tightening your belt; spending less and being more cautious. That’s all well and good, but the second aspect of saving – which people are sort of ignoring – is that when you actually do tighten your belt and keep a few rand extra every month, you’ve got to make sure that that money is working for you; that you are getting the best return on that money that you possibly can,” says Kransdorff.
As an example, Kransdorff explains that they have calculated that by investing your money in an account that yields 10% you can effectively double your wealth in less than 10 years.
That is why MyTreasury seeks to match consumers with savings products that suit their needs and will ensure they maximise their savings with very little effort.
Unlike similar sites, the MyTreasury optimiser, as it is called, doesn’t assume consumers know what they are looking for, explains Kransdorff. The optimiser asks consumers how much they have to put away, when they would need access to that money and whether they want to make a one-off deposit or make regular top-ups.
“We then take you personal details for our algorithm to work out which bank accounts are relevant to your savings needs and we rank the top six accounts based on the rate that meets your savings preferences,” says Kransdorff.
At present, the MyTreasury platform includes products from the eight largest deposit-taking institutions and is looking to expand.
Says Kransdorff: “Our long-term goal is to have as many savings products on the platform as possible. Because we think the more we have, the more choice consumers have and that’s what we care about.”
With over 16m South Africans who have savings accounts, Kransdorff says that MyTreasury is trying to cater to all of them. In this vein, the range that consumers can choose to invest starts at a minimum of R1 000 and does not really have an upper limit.
MyTreasury is free to use and generates revenue through advertising on the site and by earning commission on successful pairings of consumers and banks. “If people select a certain bank account, we forward their details to the bank that they have selected. The bank then contacts them and we get paid commission. It’s absolutely free for the consumer,” emphasises Kransdorff.
MyTreasury has just started out, but has experienced good uptake, he says. “A lot of people are using the site and using the optimiser. What has also been nice is the feedback we have received. Users have said how much they appreciate the service, and others in the financial literacy space have reached out to meet with us and potentially partner with us.”
If this is just the beginning, where do the founders want to take MyTreasury?
“We want to be thought leaders in the savings space. And we obviously will look to perhaps expand into other banks and other financial institutions that offer people savings products… There are lots of financial intuitions other than banks that have money-market funds, for example, that ordinary people just don’t know about and don’t have access to. Our goal is to increase access to high-return savings products for the mass consumer in South Africa.”
This article originally appeared in the 20 October edition of finweek. Buy and download the magazine here.
