The share price performances of South Africa\u2019s largest banks have varied drastically over the last year, with Capitec clearly on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Capitec, which was established in 2001, has now become South Africa\u2019s largest bank by customer numbers (25 million active customers).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group\u2019s share price has grown by roughly 35,000% since 2004, with 32.54% growth seen year-to-date in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that the R1,000 invested at the start of the year would now be worth R1,325.40.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This comes off a strong financial performance. In its interim results for the six months ended 31 August 2025, headline earnings grew by 26% to R8 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group generated an ROE of 31% (2024:29%), with the group\u2019s interim dividend also increased by 26% to 2,620 cents (August 2024: 2,085 cents).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group\u2019s net interest income grew by 23%, driven by a 40% growth in loan disbursements and a 16% increase in interest income on lending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standard Bank, the largest bank by assets under management, is second, with R1,000 at the start of the year now worth R1,275.90.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standard Bank shares surged 5% after the group reported solid half-year earnings growth, with a strong performance from its corporate and investment banking (CIB) unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Africa’s largest banking group, which now boasts an on-the-ground presence in 21 markets on the continent, grew headline earnings by 8% to R23.8 billion in the six months to end-June. Headline earnings per share grew 10%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Standard Bank’s board also approved an interim dividend of 817c per share for the half-year, up 10% year on year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absa came in third place, with the share price growing 24.67% since the start of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Absa has seen a 17% rise in headline earnings despite the challenging operating environment globally and in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In South Africa, headline earnings increased 19% to R7.9 billion, although pre-provision profit was flat at R17.3 billion. South African revenue grew 3% to R38.3 billion, constituting 68% of Group revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group expects continued improvements in its retail charge in South Africa, given the already far better early arrears at present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
These drivers should generate an RoE of roughly 16% in 2026, with the group setting an RoE target range of 16% to 19% from 2027 to 2030. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
FNB and RMB owner FirstRand saw its share price increase by 17.01% since the start of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This means that R1,000 at the start of the year would now be worth R1,170.10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a trading statement for the year ended 30 June 2025, the group expects to deliver full-year earnings growth above the long-term stated target range of nominal GDP plus 0% to 3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group now expects to deliver full-year earnings growth of low double digits to mid-teens, above its long-term target and the latest inflation target of 2.8%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group\u2019s ROE remains within the stated target range of 18% to 22%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, FirstRand has acquired Standard Chartered Zambia PLC\u2019s (SCBZ) Wealth and Retail Banking business portfolio in Zambia via its subsidiary, FNB Zambia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
FirstRand said that the acquisition aligns with its strategy to scale up its operations in the group\u2019s broader Africa portfolio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In fifth place is the Anglo-South African bank Investec, which saw a 4.63% decrease in its share price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
R1,000 at the start of the year would thus only reach R953.70.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the drop, Investec CEO Fani Titi said the group delivered resilient results in a challenging macro-economic environment characterised by geopolitical uncertainty and ongoing market volatility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over the past twelve months, we have returned c.\u00a3376 million (c.R9 billion) to shareholders, equivalent to 7.4% of the group\u2019s average market capitalisation, through ordinary dividends and share buybacks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group\u2019s return on equity (ROE) was 13.6% (1H2025: 13.9%), which is at the lower end of the group\u2019s medium-term target range of 13% to 17%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group\u2019s earnings per share are 37.8 pence (R8.50), showing a 6.5% growth in rand terms, with an interim dividend of 17.5 pence per share (R4), which marks a 45% payout ratio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nedbank comes in last place, with its share price declining 6.82% this year. This means that R1,000 at the start of the year would be worth R931.80.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In early December 2025, Nedbank announced a R600 million commercial settlement with Transnet, which will be a once-off expense affecting its 2025 full-year performance. Following this news, the share price initially fell by about 1.5%, but ultimately closed over 1% up the same day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In August 2025, Nedbank’s share price slumped more than 5% after the bank revised its full-year earnings and return on equity (ROE) guidance downward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nedbank said that the local environment in South Africa remained difficult in the second half of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That said, prospects for the year have improved on several fronts, including subdued inflation, which created space for further interest rate cuts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group said that its ROE for the period will be 15% or higher for FY 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group also embarked on a share repurchase this year, with R2.4 billion worth of shares repurchased from shareholders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At an average share price of R229.53 per share, the group bought shares at a discount to the book value per share of R245.22. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The share price performances of South Africa\u2019s largest banks have varied drastically over the last year, with Capitec clearly on top.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":796948,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[29,1798,76,1498,1799,853,499],"class_list":["post-846598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-absa","tag-capitec","tag-fnb","tag-investec","tag-nedbank","tag-south-africa","tag-standard-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846598","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=846598"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846598\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":846827,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/846598\/revisions\/846827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=846598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=846598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=846598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Bank<\/th> % Change<\/th> R1,000 today<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> Capitec<\/td> +32.54%<\/td> R1,325.40<\/td><\/tr> Standard Bank<\/td> +27.59%<\/td> R1,275.90<\/td><\/tr> Absa<\/td> +24.67%<\/td> R1,246.70<\/td><\/tr> FirstRand<\/td> +17.01%<\/td> R1,170.10<\/td><\/tr> Investec<\/td> -4.63%<\/td> R953.70<\/td><\/tr> Nedbank<\/td> -6.82%<\/td> R931.80<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>