When running a business, you’ve got better things to do than manually entering every payment, sale, expense or transaction into your books. That’s why tools like stub exist, to help you stay on top of your finances without losing hours to admin. You can connect your bank account to automatically import transactions, track income and expenses, and make tax time way less painful.

Here’s how it works, and what to look out for when setting it up.

Why connect your bank account to stub?

Instead of manually entering every sale, supplier payment, or fuel top-up, stub can sync your transactions directly from your bank account.

That means:

• You save time (no more manual tracking)
• You don’t miss important expenses
• You get a clearer picture of your business cash flow
• Your books stay up to date automatically
• You’ll know when a customer hasn’t paid you

It’s faster, easier, and more accurate, and it helps you make important decisions based on facts, not guesswork.

Which banks does stub connect to?

stub connects to all major South African banks:

• Absa
• First National Bank (FNB)
• Standard Bank
• Nedbank
• TymeBank
• Investec
• Capitec

How to connect your account (step-by-step)

It only takes a few minutes to connect. Here’s what to do:

1. Make sure you’re on stub’s Growing Business Plan

Bank connections are available on stub’s PRO plan.

2. Log in to your stub account

Go to Business settings and head to the bank accounts section. When you click on add bank account, you will see the option to connect vs. add manually. Click on connect.

TIP: It’s super important to know your online log in details. If you’re not sure, try logging in via a browser (not your banking app).

3. Start the connection

stub will guide you through logging in securely using your internet banking details.

TIP: Depending on who you bank with, there are a couple of different things to look out for:

• You may be asked for a one-time pin, this could go to your email, your banking app or an sms to your number registered with your bank
• Have your phone close in case you need to approve any connections

4. Select the accounts you want to sync

This part’s important! stub will show you all the accounts linked to your banking profile, like your cheque, credit card, or savings. Only tick the ones you want to sync.

If you skip this step, all your accounts may be connected by default (including personal ones you didn’t mean to include).

Common hiccups to avoid

A few things can trip people up when connecting their bank account. Here’s what to watch for:

• Using the wrong login info

Don’t use your card number or app PIN. You need to use the same online banking login details you’d use on your bank’s website.

• Forgetting to deselect unwanted accounts

Some users accidentally import personal accounts or credit cards they didn’t mean to sync. Double-check your account list before confirming.

TIP: If it is taking really long to load and not connecting, try refreshing the page. After that, check if your accounts are connected and then press sync. Reach out to hi@stub.africa if it is taking longer than 3-5 minutes to fetch your data.

What happens after you connect?

• stub pulls in the last 3 months of transactions from your selected accounts (e.g. connect on 6 June, get data from 6 March onwards).
• After that, transactions sync automatically, either daily or whenever you log in.
• stub automatically creates income and expense records from your transactions.
• These are then sorted into categories like Sales, Rent, Fuel or Subscriptions using Autocat.

But sometimes we don’t get it quite right, for example, we might tag a glue purchase as “Meals & Entertainment” when it’s actually “Stationery.” That’s where the Autocat Reviewer comes in.

You can:

• Review and confirm or correct categories
• Bulk-edit recurring transactions
• Teach stub to learn from your changes, so your books get more accurate over time

This gives you control and oversight, without having to do everything manually.

Connecting your bank to stub is one of the quickest ways to take control of your business finances. It’s secure, quick to set up, and saves you time every single month. And if you ever need help setting it up, stub’s support team is just an email away at hi@stub.africa.