Absa will not pass on personal information collected from users of its free internet access to anyone else, Tasso Tsoukalas, general manager of channel marketing at Absa, says.
The service, to be launched on Monday, offers unlimited free internet access with www.absa.co.za as the home page, five free e-mail addresses and 10 MB of free webspace. To surf the internet, users will have to go through the Absa website.
As with any other internet service provider, you will be asked to fill in a registration form and provide details about yourself. Tsoukalas says this information will be used responsibly.
Absa will respect privacy and is bound by the banking industry's Code of Banking Conduct as to how it may use the information. The code specifies that your information may not be passed onto a third party and that you must give your express permission for your information to be used.
"We certainly have no intention of using it to send unsolicited e-mails nor do we plan to zap users with advertising," Tsoukalas says.
You can specify whether or not you want to receive further information from Absa. If you do want more, the bank will only send you information appropriate to you. This may be of a financial or personal lifestyle nature, he says.
"Like any other home page on the web, we will advertise services and products that could benefit the user, but the customer is not bound to make use of any of these in order to get the free service," Santie Botha, Absa group executive director, says.
To connect, you can either collect a free CD-ROM from any Absa branch nationwide from February 5 or download the software from www.absa.co.za
A contact centre, 0860 166 177, has been set up for general inquiries relating to the service. The cost of calls to this centre is the same as a local call.
A technical assistance call centre has also been established to guide users through the installation and registration process and provide advice on hardware and internet software. However, calls to this centre, on 082 245 9562, will be charged at cellular rates. Tsoukalas says this is to prevent abuse of the line and to limit usage.
In a separate development, service provider M-Web and financial services group BoE have joined forces to enable people without credit cards to bank and shop on the internet via a debit card.
The only requirements are that you must be over 16 and have an identity number.
A BoE spokesperson says the service ( www.icanonline.co.za) will include a debit card and access to savings and transmission accounts, account payments, stop orders, online statements, transfers of funds to and from other banks, debit orders, a cheque facility and online shopping and share trading.
Your debit card will be delivered to you in three to four days and your personal identification number sent my mail. There is no upfront payment or monthly fee. You can set up your account online.
Meanwhile Standard Bank's internet banking site ( www.standardbank.co.za) has been given a facelift, making navigation faster, easier and user-friendly, and two new features have been added, Hannah Sadiki, product manager at Standard Bank internet banking, says.
From February 12, you will be able to stop payment on cheques and debit orders online and have requests processed immediately. You can have account balances and statements e-mailed to you.