MarketLink is Standard Bank's immediate-access savings account. It has been around for decades, which is why so many South Africans — and many businesses — still hold one, often linked to a cheque account they opened years ago.
This guide covers how the MarketLink account works, how its interest rate structure is tiered, what "linked" actually means, and when it makes sense to keep one versus moving the money somewhere that works harder.
What is a MarketLink account?
MarketLink is a savings account from Standard Bank with three defining characteristics:
- Immediate access — no notice period. You can transfer money out at any time.
- Tiered interest — the rate you earn depends on your balance. Larger balances earn higher rates.
- Linked to a transactional account — it is designed to sit alongside a Standard Bank cheque or business account, with instant transfers between the two.
It is not a fixed deposit and not a notice account. It trades yield for flexibility: you will generally earn less on a MarketLink balance than on a 32-day notice account or fixed deposit at the same bank.
How MarketLink interest rates work
MarketLink uses balance tiers. Your entire balance earns the rate of the tier it falls into, and Standard Bank adjusts the tier rates when the repo rate moves.
Two things to understand before comparing rates:
Low balances earn very little. The bottom tiers of the MarketLink structure have historically paid rates well below inflation. If you are holding a small balance "for the interest", check the current rate for your tier — it may be close to zero in real terms.
Nominal vs. effective rates. Standard Bank quotes both a nominal annual rate and an effective annual rate (which accounts for monthly compounding). When comparing against another bank's savings product, make sure you are comparing the same type of rate.
What "linked" means
The "Link" in MarketLink refers to the link between the savings account and your Standard Bank transactional account. In practice:
- Transfers between the two accounts are instant and free on digital channels.
- The MarketLink account appears alongside your cheque account in the Standard Bank app and internet banking.
- Some businesses use it as a sweep target — excess cash gets moved from the cheque account into MarketLink at the end of the week or month, then moved back when needed.
The link is within Standard Bank only. If your business banks across multiple institutions — say a Standard Bank cheque account, an FNB credit facility, and a Capitec savings pocket — the MarketLink balance only shows up in Standard Bank's channels.
MarketLink for businesses
For a business, a MarketLink account typically plays one of two roles:
A buffer account. Operating cash that is not needed this week sits in MarketLink instead of the cheque account, earning something rather than nothing, while staying available same-day.
A provision account. VAT, PAYE, or provisional tax collected but not yet due gets parked in MarketLink so it is not accidentally spent out of the operating account.
Both patterns work, but both create the same bookkeeping problem: your cash is now split across accounts, and your true cash position is the sum of balances that live on different statements. If you reconcile manually, every extra account adds a statement to fetch and a column to add up.
Alternatives to consider
If yield is the goal, compare MarketLink against:
| Product type | Access | Typical yield vs. MarketLink |
|---|---|---|
| Money market funds | 1–2 days | Usually higher |
| 32-day notice accounts | 32 days' notice | Higher |
| Fixed deposits | Locked for the term | Highest |
| Other banks' instant-access savings | Immediate | Varies — some digital banks pay more |
The trade-off is always access. MarketLink's strength is that the money is one instant transfer away from your operating account — which matters more for a business buffer than an extra percentage point.
Tracking MarketLink alongside your other accounts
If your business holds a MarketLink account plus accounts at other banks, getting a consolidated view means logging into each bank separately — or automating it.
BankLink connects to South African bank accounts and pulls transactions and balances on a schedule, delivering them to a dashboard, a webhook, or your inbox. That means your MarketLink balance, your operating account, and accounts at other banks can land in one place without anyone logging in to check. See How to Consolidate Multiple Bank Accounts in South Africa for how that works in practice.