{"id":858005,"date":"2026-04-22T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=858005"},"modified":"2026-04-22T12:52:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T10:52:20","slug":"good-news-for-capitec-customers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/858005\/good-news-for-capitec-customers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Good news for Capitec customers in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Capitec Group CEO Graham Lee says that the bank is working with Home Affairs to expand Smart ID and passport services at its branches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Home Affairs and banks have partnered for over a decade to offer passport and Smart ID services, Capitec only started offering the service last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capitec shunned the initial pilot with Home Affairs despite having the largest branch network in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Capitec decided to join a new expanded initiative, which gives it greater control over the system, with Home Affairs staff not seconded to bank branches like the initial pilot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank has become the driving force in offering Smart ID services across the country, with 86 branches now offering them, up from zero at the start of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank has prioritised areas that lacked modernised Home Affairs infrastructure to ensure that all customers get access to Smart ID services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its inception in March 2026, the group has successfully processed 71,000 Smart ID applications at its branches. The bank uses advanced self-service terminals for the service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That said, the group is somewhat limited in its current state, as it can only offer Smart IDs to non-first-time users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only replacement Smart ID cards can be issued. This means that only South Africans who have lost, stolen, or damaged a Smart ID card, or who need to replace a green ID book, can use the service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking with BusinessTech following the release of the group’s FY2026 financial results, Lee said that the bank is working with Home Affairs to expand the service offerings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes starting to offer passport renewals and Smart ID applications for first-time users. While Smart IDs take precedence, passports expire and need to be changed more regularly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank is also working with Home Affairs to find areas where the most demand for services exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, Lee said that the Thohoyandou, Limpopo branch has seen a surge in demand, which will lead to further Home Affairs services being sent to the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee added that a major part of the Smart ID and passport rollout was a change in the online verification system (OVS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, Home Affairs increased the OVS fee by 6,500% to R10. While the increase drew widespread anger from members in the banking and telcos space, Lee said that the fee increase was necessary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CEO said that the previous fee was too low and created opportunities for abuse. Home Affairs argued that the lower fee overwhelmed its systems, resulting in well-known downtime issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The largest banking network in South Africa <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Capitec Group CEO Graham Lee<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Capitec’s expansion of Smart ID and passport services is made easier by its expansive branch network that continues to grow, while its competitors cut back on physical locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its financial results, the group said that its bank branch network increased to 885 by February 2026, while its ATM network dropped slightly to 8,771. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A comparison by MyBroadband<\/a> shows that Capitec has massively expanded its physical locations over the last decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its branch network has expanded by 32 locations since 2022, while its ATM network has expanded by 1,593 locations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank told our affiliated publication that it will continue to grow its ATM and bank branch network in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Capitec’s App being the most used in South Africa’s banking space, the group believes its branch network is the main way customers access its services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Point of representation<\/th>2022<\/th>2023<\/th>2024<\/th>2025<\/th>2026<\/th>Change<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Branches<\/strong><\/td>853<\/td>860<\/td>866<\/td>880<\/td>885<\/td>+32<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
ATMs<\/strong><\/td>7,178<\/td>7,988<\/td>8,382<\/td>8,798<\/td>8,771<\/td>+1,593<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>
Source: MyBroadband<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Capitec has rapidly expanded Smart ID services across South Africa, with the bank working with Home Affairs to launch new services soon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":856722,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[1798],"class_list":["post-858005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-capitec"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858005","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858005"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":858040,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858005\/revisions\/858040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}