Good news for Capitec customers getting Smart IDs and passports
Capitec is expanding its already massive branch network, with the bank set to start offering Smart ID and passport services in South Africa.
In its latest interim results for the six months ending 31 August 2025, the group announced another increase in its branch network.
The group’s branch network expanded from 854 branches in August 2024 to 862 branches in August 2025.
Speaking with BusinessTech, newly-appointed Capitec Group CEO Graham Lee said that the group’s branch network remains the primary way customers access the group’s services.
Although a few customers join Capitec to use its insurance and Capitec Connect products, most clients access the other value-added and financial services via its branch network.
Lee told BusinessTech that the group will continue to expand its branch network, as a human element is essential to its brand.
He added that the human element of its branch network has been a central reason for the group’s massive growth in its digital services.
The group’s digital app is comfortably the largest in South Africa, with 14 million customers using the service by August 2025, 13% higher than the prior period.
Lee said that the group plans to expand its digital and physical presence across South Africa, with the bank looking to add more clients to its massive existing base of over 25 million.
The approach from Capitec is wholly opposed to other major banks in South Africa, which are increasingly pulling back from branches to focus on tech.
Capitec’s continued expansion of its branch network will benefit South Africans seeking a Smart ID or passport.
Good news for passports
Since 2015, South Africans have been able to use services from the Department of Home Affairs at their local bank branches, specifically ID and passport services.
Despite having the largest bank branch network in South Africa, Capitec did not offer the service at its branches for the first decade.
However, in August, Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber said that Capitec had signed onto the department’s new push to expand access to service to over 100 more branches by the end of the year.
Capitec said that it will be rolling out Smart ID and passport services at select branches from October. This will start with 10 and expand to 100 by early 2026.
Speaking to BusinessTech, the bank said that the services will initially only be in-branch, but services will be added to the bank’s app in the future, along with home delivery.
The bank previously told BusinessTech that the services and home delivery will also be added to the bank’s app in the future.
Regarding locations, it said it will roll out services to branches that the DHA and other banks currently underserve.
Most bank branches currently offering Smart ID services focus on urban areas in the major metros, but Capitec wants to expand the services to its branches in rural areas.
The bank told BusinessTech that the DHA’s strong modernisation strategy is why it decided to join the pilot.
This strategy “allowed us to integrate the service into our branches and ensure that we deliver it consistently in minutes and in line with our unique Capitec experience,” it said.
The bank was previously attached to the old pilot system as it was not an integrated one, and would have required its branch consultants to be split between serving banking customers and DHA customers.
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