22seven founder Christo Davel joins Direct Transact From left, Hennie Dreyer, Christo Davel and Anthony De Gray Birch Christo Davel, the co-founder of the 22seven personal financial management platform acquired by Old Mutual in 2013, is joining Direct Transact as chief commercial officer. Davel, who also led the Saambou (and later Standard Chartered)-owned bank 20Twenty, will work with Direct Transact founders Hennie Dreyer and Anthony De Gray Birch. Both Davel’s series of fintech ventures, including 22seven, and Direct Transact has their origins in Saambou and 20Twenty, the bank the three spearheaded together. They are now working to “drive open payments technology to enable more fintech players to take part in the payments and banking innovation game”. Already, Direct Transact is responsible for driving almost 10% of South Africa’s monthly transactional value through the BankservAfrica automated clearing house.