Good news for Absa customers in South Africa
Absa has become the fourth major bank in South Africa to roll out new Smart ID services at branches as part of the Department of Home Affairs’ (DHA’s) digital partnership.
DHA minister Leon Schreiber announced the launch of Smart ID services at select Absa branches, which will join those available at Capitec, Standard Bank and FNB.
According to the DHA, Absa has enabled walk-in smart ID card applications at 12 of its branches and has plans to expand the service to a further 60 branches before the end of the year.
Absa currently has three branches listed under the service on its website, with more expected to be added in updates. These include:
- Pinetown (KZN)
- Rosebank (Gauteng)
- Waterfall Mall (North West)
Absa noted that the service is available strictly to active Absa Bank customers with a valid transactional account.
“In addition to its branch rollout, Absa will also introduce an innovative mobile service component, Bank on the Move, extending secure Home Affairs services to even more communities,” the DHA said.
Services will be fully available at the following Absa branch locations from Monday, 20 July 2026:
- Rosebank Mall,
- Greenstone Mall and Tembisa Mall in Johannesburg,
- Menlyn Park in Pretoria,
- Waterfall Mall in Rustenburg,
- Claremont Cavendish Square in Cape Town, C
- ape Gate- Brackenfell,
- Kimberley City Centre branch,
- Vincent Park in KuGompo City (formerly East London),
- Nelspruit Crossing in Mbombela,
- Mall of the North in Limpopo, and
- Pinetown in KwaZulu-Natal.
Under the digital partnership, almost every major bank has committed to rolling out the new digital service.
This includes Nedbank, Standard Bank, Absa, Discovery Bank and FNB—which were part of the old trial—and newcomers, Capitec, African Bank and GoTyme.
Until now, only Capitec, Standard Bank and FNB had launched the new digital services, with Capitec leading the pack with well over 100 branches.
With the addition of the Absa branches, the new digital partnership has extended to 296 bank branches across the country.
By the end of the year, Home Affairs said that the network will grow to 750 branches.
Schreiber noted that the new branches have facilitated over 385,000 transactions in the four months since the new partnership went live.
While the expansion has been limited to Smart IDs so far, plans to expand the offerings to passports are also underway.
This is a developing story
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