CAPITECBank, South Africa’s biggest digital bank, revealed that active digital users of the banking app, USSD channel, the internet or a combination of digital channels increased by 22% for the six months ended 31 August 2021.
“Active digital users of the banking app, USSD channel, the internet or a combination of digital channels increased from 7.3 million at the end of August 2020 to 8.9 million at the end of August 2021, an increase of 22% (February 2021: 8.6 million),” Capitec said in a statement.
As at the end of August 2021, there were 6 million active banking app users versus 4.1 million in the same period last year.
“We bolstered our digital offering while staying true to our fundamentals of simplicity, affordability and personalised service. This combined with our continued commitment to our branch network and call centers, resonated with South Africans from all walks of life. Our retail client base has grown by 2.1 million to 16.7 million clients. They performed 623 million digital transactions, an increase of 21% over the past year. We’re seeing rapid growth in South Africa’s digital economy as clients also adopt contactless card payments and online shopping.” said Gerrie Fourie, CEO of Capitec Bank.
“This period is also a testament to Capitec’s ability to adapt rapidly to prevailing circumstances. Following the civil unrest that resulted in some of our branches in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng being temporarily unavailable, the services offered by our call centres were bolstered by our multi-skilled employees from the affected branches. We strengthened the capacity of our online lending team and our clients can now apply for credit cards and access facilities without visiting a branch.”
Capitec added that clients performed 623 million digital transactions for the period compared to 516 million in the same period last year.
“The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the South African economy during the past 18 months was challenging but has also presented opportunities to enhance our clients’ experience with new digital solution,” the bank inform investors.
Capitec Bank added that the number of clients opting to transact using its Global One product offering continued to grow during the past 6 months and its digital channels were utilised by 1.6 million more clients.
“We plan to enhance client experience in all areas of our business. Our innovation capability will be enhanced by the recruitment of approximately 300 employees in areas such as business science, artificial intelligence, data engineering and computer analysis during the next few months. Digitalisation is a key strategic objective,” said Capitec Bank.
“Our aim is to become the number 1 digital bank for both Retail bank and Business bank clients. We have established a dedicated and focused team to provide a digital ecosystem of solutions that will enable efficient commerce between businesses and individuals. Growing our QR offering into the leading payment method is a focus area.”
The bank added that the volume of transactions using the Scan to pay functionality across all major QR codes continues to grow. Enhancements were also made to internet banking for our Business bank clients.
