Today the £/ZAR exchange rate is  £1 = R14.04.This means that with £100 I have R1404.This may be a lot or very little depending on how you have planned to spend this money.

Today the cost of one loaf of bread in South Africa is R9.48.The price can go down to as low as R8 or up to R11.With £100 I can get about 148 loaves of bread.With the same amount in the UK, I can only get 74 loaves at £1.35 per loave.There are more way one can measure the cost of living in different countries but using a basic commodity as an indicator tends to be reliable.THe cost of living in the UK is highr than what it is in South Africa.

Even when we look at the cost of a litre of petrol it is clear that  £100 is worth more in South Africa than it is in the UK.A litre of petrol in South Africa costs R12.97 meaning that with R1404 you get about 108.2l of petrol.With the same amount,you can only get 72 litres in the UK.

These figures will translate to the general cost of living.It is more affordable to live in South Africa while earning the pound

FNB recently announced that it would start offering remittance services for people sending money to Zimbabwe using their cellphone banking function.Establish companies such as Moneygram,Western Union and Mukuru.com have already established themselves so FNB comes in as competition.

This service is available specifically to FNB customers.Competition is good because it allows the other industry players to relook the service they are offering and work on ensuring that they stay relevant in the market.

Of course,there will be services that FNB will offer that the other industry players may not offer and vice versa.This also highlights the fact that more financial institutions may be considering entering the remittance to Zimbabwe market as Zimbabwe is one of South Africa’s largest trading partners in Africa