Case Studies

Nedbank and Entersekt: Mobile authentication as a springboard for innovation

Nedbank logo

Mobile-PKI-based strong customer authentication - a world first


Nedbank, one of the largest banks in South Africa with a steadily growing presence in the rest of Africa, wanted to expand its digital banking offering while reducing the risks posed by phishing and other digital fraud.

Its implementation of Entersekt’s mobile-PKI–based strong customer authentication was a world first in 2012 and set the pattern for years of market-leading collaboration, first on the Nedbank App Suite and now Nedbank Money.

Business challenges

  • Replace OTP-based authentication with an interactive system with greater ease of use and protection
  • Expand mobile financial services, introducing some previously considered too risky
  • Claim a share of the growing mobile payments market and drive customer adoption with a predictable, highly accessible, converged service

Customer successes

  • Nedbank App Suite widely credited for its simplicity, convenience, functionality, and cost effectiveness; showcased at Accenture Global CIO Forum 2013 in Rome and Gartner Identity and Access Management Summit 2013 in Los Angeles
  • Successful phishing attacks reduced by over 99% literally overnight; almost zero fraud in the first 11 months, protecting 23 million transactions with a total value exceeding R15 billion
  • Expanded range of mobile services made possible, including personal financial management and online stock trading
  • Nedbank, Entersekt, and Mastercard collaboration yields Scan to Pay in 2018, another market first
  •  Award-winning cashless payments service makes all major domestic QR payments services available in the banking app, completely seamlessly

They said


“Our journey with Entersekt has always been one of exploration, and I am delighted to see this next mobile payments instalment go live after it started with a few telephone calls and some big ideas.”   —Chris Wood, card issuing and payments executive, Nedbank (2018)


We said


“We want to make it easier for banks to compete on the digital front by expanding the capabilities offered in their apps in order to enrich the customer experience.”   —Schalk Nolte, chief executive officer, Entersekt (2019)


Learn more about our authentication solutions, including biometric and mobile authentication.