South African digital bank Bank Zero has reached profitability, marking a significant milestone for the five-year-old lender as partnerships with fintechs, retailers and digital platforms begin to reshape its growth strategy.
The app-only bank reached break-even in August 2026, ahead of the December target previously expected by Lesaka Technologies, which has agreed to acquire Bank Zero for about R1.1 billion. The milestone comes as the bank expands beyond its traditional customer acquisition model and increasingly uses its banking infrastructure to power other financial businesses.
Bank Zero currently has about 275,000 customers, including businesses and high-net-worth individuals. The bank says its business customers have become an important part of its growth, with business accounts representing 18% of its customer book. More than 80% of those business customers are registered companies, which generally maintain higher balances and generate more transactions.
A major driver of the recent progress has been its alliance banking strategy. Instead of relying entirely on Bank Zero to acquire individual customers, the model allows fintechs, retailers and digital platforms to issue card products using Bank Zero’s banking infrastructure.
Paymentology became Bank Zero’s first alliance banking partner in April 2026. The partnership helped push the bank’s deposit base from almost R400 million when the Lesaka transaction was announced to about R700 million by April. Lesaka expects Bank Zero’s deposits to exceed R1 billion by December 2026.
The approach gives Bank Zero another route to scale. Partners can access regulated banking infrastructure without having to build a bank from scratch, while Bank Zero earns revenue from the activity and gains deposits without bearing the full cost of acquiring every end customer.
The strategy also fits into Lesaka’s plans for the bank. Once the acquisition is completed, Bank Zero’s banking licence and digital infrastructure will support Lesaka’s broader fintech operations, including banking, payments, lending and potentially foreign-exchange and cross-border services. The transaction is still subject to outstanding regulatory approvals from South Africa’s Prudential Authority and exchange-control authorities.
Lesaka expects Bank Zero’s deposit base to grow beyond R4 billion by June 2029, supported by alliance banking, organic retail deposits and the eventual migration of Lesaka’s consumer business to the bank.
For Bank Zero, reaching break-even changes the central question from whether its low-cost digital banking model can become sustainable to how far its infrastructure-led strategy can scale.
Its next phase will depend on converting partnerships into recurring transaction activity, growing deposits and expanding services while maintaining the technology and cost advantages that helped it reach profitability.
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