Criminals hit major bank and its customers for R129 million in South Africa
Absa and its customers suffered R129 million in losses linked to fraud in South Africa during the first half of 2026, as criminals increasingly targeted digital banking channels with more sophisticated cybercrime tactics
This was revealed in the bank’s interim results report for the period ending 30 June 2026. The losses form part of a broader increase in operational risk at Absa.
The bank reported that total operational risk losses rose to R369 million for the six months ended 30 June 2026, from R240 million during the same period in 2025.
Absa said the increase was “largely attributable to an increase in digital fraud-related incidents in PPB South Africa”, referring to its Personal and Private Banking operations.
The bank said the growing use of online and mobile banking has created more opportunities for criminals to target customers, particularly through social engineering and malicious software.
“As digital adoption continued to increase, Absa experienced a rise in fraud attempts across its digital channels.
“This is consistent with broader industry trends driven by increasingly sophisticated social engineering techniques and malicious applications targeting customer devices,” it said.
Absa stressed that the problem is not unique to the bank and described rising digital fraud as an industry-wide issue, as criminals adapt their methods to exploit the rapid shift towards digital financial services.
The pressure was also evident in Absa’s operations elsewhere on the continent. The bank said that in its Africa Regions, the growth in other operating costs “mainly reflects higher fraud and losses as well as depositor insurance costs in Africa Regions.”
The increase in fraud has come as Absa accelerates the move towards digital banking, with more customers using its digital platforms for everyday financial transactions.
The group’s active digital customer base increased by 14% year-on-year during the first half of 2026. In South Africa, the number of digitally active customers rose by 10% to 3.77 million.
Increased investment in cybersecurity
However, the rise of digital banking has also required the bank to increase spending on technology and cybersecurity.
Absa’s pure information technology costs increased by 6% year-on-year to R3.8 billion. The bank said this was “mainly reflecting continuing investment into digital capabilities, including cybersecurity, cloud and data, which were partially offset by optimisation of infrastructure costs.”
When staff, amortisation and depreciation are included, total IT spending increased by 7% to R8.779 billion. This represented 28% of the group’s total expenses.
The bank said it continued to strengthen its defences against cybercrime by introducing additional measures to detect and prevent fraudulent activity.
“The Group continued to strengthen its prevention and detection capabilities through the deployment of enhanced controls,” Absa said.
“This includes in-app malware detection, advanced call screening capabilities, sophisticated analytics, real-time customer alerts and customer awareness campaigns.”
Despite the higher fraud-related losses and increased technology costs, Absa reported stronger overall financial results for the period.
Headline earnings increased by 8% to R12.807 billion, from R11.874 billion a year earlier, while group income rose 4% to R58.791 billion.
Operating expenses increased by 4% to R31.393 billion, and pre-provision profit grew by 4% to R27.398 billion.
Credit impairment charges declined by 1% to R7.099 billion, helping the group’s credit loss ratio improve to 0.94%, from 1% in June 2025.
Absa’s Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio also strengthened to 12.8%, compared with 12.5% a year earlier.
The stronger capital position allowed the board to increase the ordinary dividend per share by 8% to 850 cents, from 785 cents.
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