In the township of Vosloorus, south-east of Johannesburg, Standard Bank last month opened a "Bank in a Box". Snapped together from metal panels like a child's toy, at less than R600,000 ($90,000) it cost about half the price of a bricks-and-mortar branch.

The no-frills modular structure rests on a concrete slab and is easily portable should the location prove disappointing. The bank will have opened 21 similar units in urban townships and remote rural areas by year-end.