{"id":779182,"date":"2024-07-01T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=779182"},"modified":"2024-07-01T17:02:52","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T15:02:52","slug":"more-bank-branches-where-you-can-get-your-passport-and-smart-id-expected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/779182\/more-bank-branches-where-you-can-get-your-passport-and-smart-id-expected\/","title":{"rendered":"More bank branches where you can get your passport and Smart ID expected"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FNB and Standard Bank are in discussions with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) about expanding their smart ID and passport renewal services to more branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Home Affairs launched its eHomeAffairs system on 7 April 2016 to facilitate easier access to government services online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This initiative formed part of the Department of Home Affairs\u2019 aim to replace about 34 million green-barcoded ID books with the Smart ID Card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The eHomeAffairs system was initially available through ABSA, First National Bank, Nedbank and Standard Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At launch, banks offered the eHomeAffairs system at 12 branches in Gauteng and one branch in Cape Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan was to enter a public-private partnership with participating banks to increase the footprint in the provinces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progress has been made over the last eight years. Investec and Discovery Bank joined the project, and the service is now available at 30 branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it is much slower than initially envisaged and two provinces, North West and Free State, don\u2019t have any branches offering the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that the big banks are in discussions with the Department of Home Affairs to expand their offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FNB and Standard Bank said they have signed the extension of the Memorandum of Understanding until the end of September 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two banking giants told Daily Investor<\/a><\/strong> they hope a permanent solution can be found before then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extension agreement covers the pilot sites currently operated by Department of Home Affairs employees. Discussions on signing a partnership agreement are still in progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kabelo Makeke, head of personal and private banking at Standard Bank South Africa, said they have big expansion plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOnce the agreement is signed, we will focus on the conversion of the pilot sites and thereafter review our position on expanding this service,\u201d Makeke said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Banking Association of South Africa is also working on the next phase of the eHomeAffairs project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once finalised, banks will be able to announce the expansion of the service to other selected branches across the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Successful project which citizens value<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Department of Home Affairs\u2019 eHomeAffairs system is a successful project which South Africans value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FNB\u2019s head of public relations, Sizwekazi Mdingi, said while the rollout has been slow, the service is incredibly popular among South Africans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 1.4 million Smart ID cards and passport renewals are carried out at eHomeAffairs-enabled bank branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the end of March 2024, the bank\u2019s seven eHomeAffairs-enabled branches had issued 220,664 Smart ID cards and renewed 273,039 passports for a total tally of 493,703.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank said its branches currently complete around 7,000 ID and passport applications in a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nine eHomeAffairs-supported branches of South Africa\u2019s biggest bank, Standard Bank, issued or renewed 418,397 documents, the second-highest number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the participating banks do not directly benefit financially from offering passport renewals and smart ID cards, it helps them to service their clients better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a full-service financial services institution, we strive to provide access to all financial services and options beyond,\u201d Makeke said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe see the relationship with the DHA as a strategic partnership that provides accessible, convenient and cost-effective services to our customers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passport renewals and smart ID applications can be cumbersome at Homa Affairs offices, which gives participating banks a competitive edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitec clients, for example, do not have the luxury of visiting a bank branch to get their new smart ID or passport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, FNB, Standard Bank, Absa, Investec, Nedbank, and Discovery Bank ensured their clients have access to the convenience of the eHomeAffairs system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DHA-enabled bank branches in South Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The table below shows all the Department of Home Affairs enabled bank branches in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Province<\/strong><\/td>Bank branch<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Gauteng<\/td>Absa Centurion Lifestyle Centre
Absa Key West Krugersdorp
Absa Sandton City
Discovery Bank Head Office
FNB Centurion Lifestyle Centre
FNB Glen Shopping Centre
FNB Lynnwood
FNB Merchant Place
Investec Bank Sandown
Nedbank Arcadia
Nedbank Constantia Kloof
Nedbank Rivonia
Standard Bank Centurion Lifestyle Centre
Standard Bank Jubilee Mall
Standard Bank Killarney Mall
Standard Bank Simmonds Street<\/td><\/tr>
Western Cape<\/td>Absa Stellenbosch
Absa Towers
FNB Greenpoint
Nedbank St George\u2019s Mall
Standard Bank Canal Walk
Standard Bank Mitchell\u2019s Plain Promenade<\/td><\/tr>
KwaZulu Natal<\/td>FNB Cornubia
Nedbank Durban North
Standard Bank Kingsmead<\/td><\/tr>
Eastern Cape<\/td>Absa Port Elizabeth
Standard Bank Newton Park<\/td><\/tr>
Mpumalanga<\/td>Nedbank Nelspruit<\/td><\/tr>
Limpopo<\/td>FNB Burgersfort<\/td><\/tr>
Northern Cape<\/td>Standard Bank Kathu Mall<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Read: Big loss for Home Affairs in South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africans can expect more bank branches across the country to get their smart ID or renew their passport. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":779183,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[29,6239,12923,20090,76,1498,1799,20089,6230,499],"class_list":["post-779182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-absa","tag-department-of-home-affairs","tag-discovery-bank","tag-ehomeaffairs","tag-fnb","tag-investec","tag-nedbank","tag-passport-renewal","tag-smart-id","tag-standard-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779182"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":780321,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779182\/revisions\/780321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}