Old Mutual and 22seven announced that the running of the 22seven operation will be moved to Old Mutual’s in-house digital strategy department. The money management tool 22seven, while wholly owned by Old Mutual South Africa, was until recently run independently from the corporate.
Old Mutual stressed that the change in the oversight of 22seven will not interrupt the current online offering to customers.
Raymond Berelowitz, director of customer solutions at Old Mutual, said: “We are very proud of the capability we have built with 22seven and we strongly believe that the Personal Financial Management (PFM) component – which is the tool that helps customers manage their money – has the power to help many South Africans achieve their financial goals in life. As such, we are excited about the potential for integrating the 22seven service into our larger digital offering without any changes for customers.”
He added: “It is of paramount importance that customers know we will continue to honour the data integrity policy which governs the usage of this service. Looking at the year ahead, we will focus on making the existing service the best it can be and, importantly, available to more South Africans.”
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Where to for the 22seven staff and founders?
With the integration of 22seven into Old Mutual’s in-house digital strategy, the founders of the money management tool, Christo Davel and Kenny Inggs will leave the business, with a handful of the 22seven staff.
In an email sent to customers, Davel stated: “Since Old Mutual bought 22seven almost four years ago, we have continued to run independently, with our own separate offices and staff. The support and independence they gave us enabled us do what we originally set out to - to help people do better with their money.
“Old Mutual has decided to bring 22seven strategically closer to home, in terms of their digital business. They have some extremely capable people working on their future digital plans, which means that I, my co-founder Kenny Inggs and some of our staff won’t be part of 22seven’s future.” When Justmoney contacted 22seven’s spokespeople, they refused to comment further on the issue.
According to a report, Davel hinted that he and Inggs, along with members of their executive team are working on other projects at present. While the focus of these projects was not mentioned, Davel noted that it may have something to do with finance.
