Demand for eWallet services in Botswana and Namibia is growing strongly, says South Africa's First National Bank (FNB).

Approximately 17% of citizens in Botswana and, in less than a year, over 5% of the population in Namibia received money into an eWallet, it has been revealed. Botswana’s population is just over 2 million while Namibia has a population of around 2.2 million, according to the World Bank.

FNB's eWallet service enables customers to send money to anyone with a valid cellphone number, even if they don't have a bank account.

The money is transferred instantly and can be withdrawn from FNB ATMs, and used to buy prepaid airtime or electricity, send money to another mobile phone or pay to a bank account and more.

And according to a press statement, the growth of the service in both Botswana and Namibia has ‘exceeded expectations’.

Speaking about the success of the service Yolande van Wyk, chief executive officer of eWallet Solutions at FNB, said, “The growth of eWallet in the African subsidiaries has been a lesson in how local conditions affect how people adopt and use a service."

Van Wyk added, "We have noticed that Botswana and Namibia’s low population density contributes to the take-up. With a population density of less than four people per square kilometer in both these countries, there is clearly a need to send money across a distance, and eWallet has fulfilled this need.”

The financial institution also added that the eWallet service had shown strong growth in all its African operations with a 119% year-on-year increase in the last financial year.

“Over the last financial year alone, over R3.2 billion has been sent into eWallets across countries in which the service has been launched. These countries include South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho and Zambia,” said van Wyk.