TymeBank (GoTyme Bank)

Is TymeBank safe?

For balances up to R100,000, yes. TymeBank, which became GoTyme Bank Limited in April 2026, is a fully licensed South African bank supervised by the Reserve Bank's Prudential Authority, and your deposits there are covered by the Corporation for Deposit InsuranceDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary (CODI) up to R100,000 per person. The name changed; the legal entity, your account and your cover did not. Capital and liquidity ratios are far above the rules. What holds it back is size and age: the bank has about R1.3 billion of core capital, opened in 2019 and says it only turned profitable at the end of 2023. We score it 65/100, below Capitec at 71.

Two GoTyme banks, two sets of rules

The Tyme Group runs separate banks in South Africa and the Philippines, and the shared brand can confuse people.

	South Africa	Philippines
Legal entity	GoTyme Bank Limited (formerly TymeBank Limited)	GoTyme Bank, a separate company
Regulator	SARB Prudential Authority	Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Deposit insuranceDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary	CODI, R100,000	PDIC, Philippine limit

This page covers the South African bank. Money in one bank is not backed by the other's capital or deposit insurer.

Capital and liquidity

The quarterly Pillar 3 disclosure for 31 March 2026 shows healthy ratios:

Measure (31 March 2026)	GoTyme Bank group	Requirement
CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary	19.6%	8.5% incl. buffers
Total capital ratio	26.9%	12.5% incl. buffers
Leverage ratioLeverage ratioA bank's Tier 1 capital divided by its total exposures, without adjusting for risk. It is a simple backstop to risk-based capital rules.More in the glossary	11.5%	4%
Liquidity coverage ratioLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary	1,137%	100%
Net stable funding ratioNet stable funding ratioA bank's stable funding, such as capital and retail deposits, compared with the stable funding its assets need over one year. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary	153%	100%

The total capital ratio jumped from 22.5% to 26.9% in the quarter after the bank issued Tier 2 debt. The requirement includes the Basel minimum, a 1% Pillar 2A add-on, the 2.5% conservation buffer and a 1% countercyclical buffer that applied for the first time in that quarter.

The ratios are strong because the balance sheet is mostly cash and government securities, not loans. At June 2025 the bank held R7.7 billion of customer deposits and only R2.2 billion of customer advances. Lending is growing, though, with personal loans, buy-now-pay-later through MoreTyme and merchant cash advances pushing risk-weighted assets up 2.7% in the March quarter alone.

Size is the weakness. R1.28 billion of CET1 is a small cushion in absolute terms, about a fortieth of Capitec's. The bank has no public credit rating, and South African banks' ratings are capped by the country's sub-investment-grade sovereign rating.

What CODI covers

CODI started on 1 April 2024. It covers qualifying depositors up to R100,000 per depositor per bank, including interest, and pays out if the Reserve Bank liquidates the bank. The Reserve Bank says about 95% of South African depositors hold less than that. Anyone with more is only partly covered; the rest becomes a claim on the failed bank's estate.

GoTyme's GoalSave pays high interest to attract savings, which is why many customers keep large balances there. It is still a deposit at the same bank, so it counts toward the same R100,000.

Scams and app security

Banking-app fraud is a large and growing problem in South Africa, with criminals using SIM swaps, fake bank calls and mule accounts. GoTyme opens accounts in its app and at kiosks in shops, which brings in customers who had no bank account before but also tests identity checks. We found no data breach or regulatory penalty against the bank. It is moving all account management into the GoTyme app and kiosks, keeping internet banking only for customers who logged in during the last 90 days.

How to keep money safe at TymeBank

1. Keep under R100,000 per bank if you want all of it insured, and spread larger savings across unrelated banking groups.
2. Make sure your app is the official GoTyme Bank app, and ignore messages that ask you to "upgrade" your account through a link after the rebrand.
3. Never share a one-time PIN or approve a payment because a caller says your account is at risk.
4. If you bank with GoTyme in the Philippines too, remember the two banks have different deposit insurers.

How we scored it

Liquidity (82) is the strongest factor, with an LCRLiquidity coverage ratioA bank's cash and easy-to-sell assets compared with the money that could flow out in a 30-day crisis. It must be at least 100%.More in the glossary over 1,000% and most deposits held in liquid assets rather than loans. Conduct (70) reflects a clean but short record. Stability history (55) and deposit protectionDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary (58) are the weakest: a bank that is only seven years old and recently profitable, covered by a young fund with a low limit.