Capitec Bank, a leading retail bank co-founded and partially controlled by South African billionaire Michiel Le Roux, has reached a key milestone by matching the combined client base of Standard Bank, Absa, and Discovery Bank.
As of February 29, 2024, Capitec claimed 22 million active clients, a 10% growth over the previous year. This cements its status as South Africa’s largest retail bank. Capitec currently has almost 10 million more customers than its nearest competitor, Standard Bank. Its active client base is equal to the combined South African client base of Standard Bank, Absa, and Discovery Bank.
Capitec has had exceptional growth over the last decade, particularly in its digital offerings. The bank has 11.2 million active users on its mobile app, which is nearly equal to Standard Bank’s total South African client base of 11.4 million. This proportion accounts for roughly 30% of South Africans over the age of 18. The bank is adding over 180,000 new app clients per month, demonstrating strong digital engagement. Despite its beginnings in lending, the bank presently serves only 1.4 million credit customers.
In comparison, Absa and FNB have 9.8 million and 9.6 million customers, respectively. FNB’s stats omit 6.57 million active eWallets, which are not considered conventional bank accounts; nevertheless, FNB also has an additional 1.8 million eWallets held by active customers. Nedbank, which does not publish its overall active customer base, reports 3.2 million “main-banked clients,” whereas TymeBank claims nine million customers, but not all may be active.
Capitec Bank increased headline earnings by 16% to R10.58 billion ($550.8 million) for the fiscal year ending Feb. 29, 2024, cementing its supremacy in South Africa’s banking market. The increase was driven by increased non-interest income, demonstrating the bank’s strength beyond traditional lending.
Michiel Le Roux, Jannie Mouton, and Riaan Stassen founded Capitec in 2001. The company provides transactional banking services as well as a range of financial products such as term loans, credit facilities, and credit cards. The bank has 7.8 million “fully banked” consumers, outnumbering Nedbank’s main-banked clients by roughly 50% and outperforming similar categories at other large South African lenders such as FNB, Absa, and Standard Bank.
