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Financial Planning
Technology
June 7, 2021

South Africa back on international investors’ radar

The Liberty Group's innovative Stash app has won two global awards for offering outstanding customer experience in the insurance industry.

The 2021 Digital CX Awards saw the Stash app win the Outstanding Customer Experience Transformation in Insurance Award, as well as the Best Insurtech for Digital Customer Experience Award.

According to the organisers of the awards, Stash by Liberty was given these honours after undergoing a comprehensive audit evaluation in which the app successfully fulfilled the criteria for claiming first place in two catagories. 

"These awards represent an extraordinary milestone and positive recognition of Stash's digital journey. When we first developed Stash, it was to enable financial inclusion and help address the poor savings culture in South Africa. After its market launch in April 2017, we gathered data for about two years to see what customers really wanted. With the growth of the app we've been working to offer a more interactive user experience that makes investing easier and more organic for our clients," says Glenn Grimley, Chief Specialist for Ecosystem Products at Liberty. 

With every adaptation made to the app it saw great growth. In 2018 and 2019, Stash averaged 1400 downloads per month. Over the past 12 months the app faced 100% growth, with downloads averaging 11 600 this year. The app has also reached an incredible milestone and has a tax-free investment customer base, of 100 000 users.

The online journey

Stash was created by Liberty as its first digital-only offering. 

"Setting up a Stash account requires no paperwork or meetings with advisers, and within no time a client has a tax-free investment account, that has a wide range of features, including a chic user experience that invests money based on their unique lived experiences." Grimley says.

Stash's unique features allow you to literally stash your spare cash automatically and without any effort. With it you can simply push a button to invest the money you saved from, for example, skipping your daily cappuccino. Stashers can also choose between cash and equities, depending on their risk appetite and investment outlook.

In a country with high smartphone penetration and a poor savings culture, these features on Stash also help South Africans to build their financial literacy and investment confidence.

"For the past year in particular, Liberty has been working to engage with its customers virtually because of the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We've been investing in tools that make customers' lives easier, that offer quicker access, but at the same time give them an experience that makes their connection to us much closer, and our Stash app has been at the forefront of this digital engagement " Grimley says.

Liberty's recognition is significant because The DCX 2021 Awards are the world’s only platform dedicated to recognising excellence in the Digital Customer Experience across the Financial Services sector.

The Awards exist to assess the rapidly changing expectations of customers in the digital economy while transforming the customer journey across all digital touch points.

The awards were co-judged by PWC, Deloitte, Forrester and Capco.

Liberty Group Limited is the licensed insurer of the Stash tax-free investment and an Authorised Financial Services Provider (no. 2409). Terms and conditions, risks and limitations apply.

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