Capitec’s fintech operations are becoming an increasingly important contributor to the bank’s earnings, with value-added services and its mobile business delivering strong growth in the six months to 31 August 2026.
The bank’s fintech activities contributed R2.7 billion to headline earnings, compared with R2.1 billion a year earlier. That was around three-quarters of the R3.5 billion generated by Personal Banking excluding fintech.
Combined net income from value-added services and Capitec Connect increased by 32% to R3.8 billion during the period.
Value-added services, which include prepaid airtime, data, electricity and money transfers, generated R3.5 billion in net income, up 30%. The number of customers using these services increased 14% to 13.5 million, while transactions climbed 26% to 1.1 billion.
Capitec’s Send Cash service also recorded growth, with net income rising 32% to R906 million and its user base reaching 6.8 million.
Capitec Connect delivered an even sharper increase. Net income rose 72% to R284 million, while active customers increased to 1.8 million from 1.1 million a year earlier. Data usage more than doubled to 34.3 petabytes.
Digital payments also continued to expand. Customers using Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay and Garmin Pay increased 68% to 2.4 million, with spending rising 87% to R52.1 billion.
The bank’s overall headline earnings increased 19% to R9.5 billion, while its interim dividend rose by 19% to 3 110 cents per share.
Capitec also reported growth in its business banking division, where headline earnings increased 52% to R609 million.
However, credit costs increased during the period. The group’s annualised credit loss ratio rose to 8.4% from 7.9%, with Capitec pointing to higher provisions for expected losses.
The bank said it did not increase fees for a second consecutive year. Operating expenses rose 5% to R10.5 billion, while its cost-to-income ratio improved to 36% from 40%.
Main Image: News24
