South Africa’s Nedbank becomes the only bank in the country to stake a claim in the metaverse

SNEAK PEEK

  • The village will feature experiences from virtual gaming to a sports lounge.
  • M&C Saatchi Abel, MTN and World Data Lab are among the other early settlers.
  • Nedbank has joined other players in the industry like JP Morgan, DBS Bank, Fidelity Investments and HSBC.

South Africa’s one of the biggest lenders in terms of assets, Nedbank Group Ltd., has acquired a village in Ubuntuland to mark its very own presence in the metaverse

Nedbank has partnered with Africarare, which calls itself the first ever metaverse on the continent as well as creators of Ubuntuland, where everything is possible from purchasing to selling and renting property besides other digital assets. 

The group’s executive for marketing and corporate affairs, Khensani Nobanda, shared in an email that Nedbank is investing in the virtual-reality market with an aim to discover and tap into new marketing platforms as well as create experiences that are way beyond banking.

Nobanda further said that their entry in the metaverse is much more than having a presence in it. In fact, it is about catering to the needs of clients on platforms that gel with them. 

The village of Nedbank will feature experiences that vary from virtual gaming and goes up to a sports lounge. Talking about other early settlers, they are M&C Saatchi Abel, MTN Group Ltd. and World Data Lab.  

Villages range from 1×1, a single plot of land to 24×24, which equals 576 plots. Ubuntuland has a total of 204,642 plots of land available. Talking about the currency, it is a $Ubuntu token and is built on Ethereum

With the move, Nedbank has joined successful companies like JP Morgan, DBS Bank, Fidelity Investments and HSBC who are now a part of the metaverse worldwide

According to the bank, this step will support it to stand at the forefront of technology, which will eventually push it towards the next phase of digital business models. 

Last month, Today NFT News reported when Emirates NBD launched a metaverse startup accelerator to transform the future of banking. Prior to that, Commercial Bank International became the first bank in the UAE to enter metaverse by locating in Decentraland.In July, another bank, i.e. Warba bank, also made it into the metaverse and made headlines for being the first Islamic bank to do so.