Banking

Major banks are quietly shutting down ATMs in South Africa – except for two

Jonathan Hoyle

 ·16 Aug 2026

Some banks are slowly moving away from ATMs in South Africa, while others are seizing the opportunity to move into the cash market.

Across South Africa’s ‘big five’ legacy banks with extensive ATM networks, three have reduced their footprint since 2023.

Nedbank has seen its total number of ATMs shrink by approximately 4.4% since 2023.

Absa has seen its teller network drop by 2.3%, while FNB has seen a marginal drop of 0.3%, keeping numbers relatively flat between 2023 and 2025.

Standard Bank and Capitec have bucked the trend, growing their networks, with the latter stepping up its physical infrastructure in a big way.

The move away from ATMs is part of a wider shift towards online banking, which poses a significantly lower risk to banks than traditional ATMs and cash-based services.

Cash services can be expensive to operate and maintain, and have become hotspots for crime in recent years.

Cash-in-transit (CIT) vehicles have become a target for thieves in South Africa, with the country experiencing 31 CIT heists in the first three months of 2026.

This presents considerable costs to banks, with losses from theft and the added cost of security increasingly becoming factors.

Cash has traditionally been the standard for transactions in low-income or rural areas, but banks are increasingly turning to fintech to meet these needs.

In 2025, Nedbank acquired iKhokha, a fintech company that supports small businesses’ transactions in South Africa.

iKhokha gives small businesses, such as spaza shops, easy access to point-of-service (POS) transactions, enabling customers to pay with cards or cellphones.

These fintech solutions reduce reliance on cash for many businesses that traditionally could not accept card-based payments.

Many other South African banks, such as Discovery, have opted for an online-only approach, not operating any ATMs or physical branches.

Many of these banks also encourage their clients to withdraw cash from tillpoints rather than ATMs by offering lower transaction fees at stores.

Many major banks charge between R10 and R20 for ATM withdrawals, while transaction fees at tillpoints range from R1 to R3.

ATMs in South Africa between 2023 and 2025

The notable exceptions

While other banks are moving away from cash-based business, Capitec has considerably increased its number of ATMs in the last two years.

The bank has gone from 7,898 cash devices in 2023 to 8,798 at the end of 2025, with an average yearly increase of about 5.5%.

Cash devices include ATMs, cash and coin recyclers, and dual note recyclers, with over 7,000 of these devices currently ATMs.

The emphasis on physical currency for Capitec comes as the bank has seen a growing share of cash-based transactions.

Cash transactions amounted to R596 million for the bank in 2024 and rose to R619 million in 2025.

While these amounts are below the total value of digital and card payments, it is still a large and growing revenue source for the company.

Standard Bank has also seen a moderate increase in the number of ATMs.

The bank had 3,450 ATMs in 2023 and increased the number by 46, for a total of 3,496 at the end of 2025.

While reducing ATMs between 2023 and 2025, FNB noted that it has since made efforts to increase its physical footprint, with 4,781 Point of Presence devices around the country in April 2026.

This is up from the 4,775 it had at the end of 2025—but still 0.2% lower than the 4,790 in 2023.

Point-of-Presence devices include ATMs, automated deposit-taking devices, and statement-printing kiosks.

Despite the country’s shift towards online banking, driven largely by convenience and increased access to fintech, cash is still used for many transactions in South Africa.

In June, the South African Reserve Bank said that approximately two-thirds of transactions in the country are conducted in cash, underscoring its continued importance to the economy.

The Reserve Bank said access to cash is a fundamental part of the South African economy and should be protected.

It also noted that roughly half of the cost of cash is passed on to consumers through high transaction fees, losses from crime, and several other factors.

The Reserve Bank has proposed several methods for preserving cash in the country, as South Africa’s banks increasingly move towards online systems.