Capitec reported a 30% increase in headline earnings to R13.7 billion.
Capitec spent R3.49 billion on information technology (IT) in the financial year ending 28 February.
So says Francois Viviers, group executive of marketing and communications at Capitec, in an e-mail interview with ITWeb after the bank announced its annual financial results yesterday.
The bank now serves more than half of the country’s adult population, it says.
Capitec reported a 30% increase in headline earnings to R13.7 billion. It says continued investment in data and technology allows the utilisation of trillions of data points to create solutions that yield value and satisfy client needs.
“Capitec’s continuous investment in technology and data is fundamental to our ecosystem strategy, enabling us to scale our operations efficiently, maintain our low-cost advantage, and ultimately, deliver tangible value to our clients,” says Viviers.
“We have invested in best-in-class platforms and technology that have allowed management to be agile and enabled the business to scale. We re-platformed our banking app and focused on moving all our data to the cloud and unlocking system efficiencies. This has allowed us to accelerate the time to market of new offerings and unlock value for clients by being able to rapidly analyse data and refine our offerings to meet client needs.”
He notes Capitec’s overall IT expenses (including IT salaries and outsourced resources) for the financial year ending February 2025 increased by 28% to R3.49 billion, calculated from R1.824 billion IT costs plus R1.665 billion IT salaries/outsourced resources.
“This investment is reflected in our robust and scalable platforms, powered by over 750 engineers, and our ongoing migration to cloud infrastructure to enhance stability and performance.”
According to Viviers, Capitec now serves over 24 million clients. Of these, 13 million are active app clients (20% of the South African population), reflecting growth of 15% in the past financial year.
He notes that investing in emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) is integral to Capitec’s strategy.
“We leverage these technologies to enhance operations and the client experience in several ways. Advanced ML models help us prevent fraud syndicates and money-laundering. AI and data analytics, powered by our cloud infrastructure partner Amazon Web Services, enable us to provide personalised credit offers and relevant in-app suggestions. This data-driven approach improved personalised credit applications by 33% in the second half of the year. AI contributes to our product knowledge, service delivery and overall design processes.”
Francois Viviers, group executive of marketing and communications at Capitec.
While digital adoption continues to grow significantly, Viviers says physical branches remain a vital part of Capitec’s integrated ecosystem and commitment to accessibility for all South Africans.
“We currently have 880 branches across the country – positioned in the communities, staffed by people from the community and serving them in their home language. This remains a key part of our recipe for success.”
He points out that these branches serve as crucial touchpoints for client identification, specific transactions and business banking support, and provide capacity for selling new products like value-added services, Capitec Connect and insurance.
“Personal banking, which includes our branch network, contributed 45% of our total headline earnings this past year, underscoring its continued importance.”
Meanwhile, in its results, Capitec says the shift to digital payments continues to accelerate. It notes that card payments at tills and online have risen by 18% to more than 2.4 billion transactions, while cash transaction volumes have increased by only 3%.
E-commerce transactions, including those via Capitec Pay, surged by 47% to 488 million. More than one million clients are now actively using their Capitec cards through digital wallets, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay, says the bank.
Capitec has also launched an international payments solution on the app, enabling payments to over 50 countries in 13 currencies, for a fixed fee of R175.
The bank points out that the Capitec Connect mobile virtual network operator delivered exceptional results.
It says over 11 million clients now utilise the Capitec app to purchase airtime, data, electricity and vouchers, and to pay bills. The bank captures over 40% of South Africa’s airtime and data transactions, and one in five digital vehicle licence renewals now occur on its platform, saving clients time and money.
