Capitec, South Africa’s largest bank by customer base, reported significant growth in its Capitec Connect mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) business and digital banking.
Capitec Connect continued to scale, with the number of active clients in the past three months reaching 1.8 million, up from 1.1 million in 2025. This represents growth of about 700,000 users, as more clients adopted the service for affordable everyday connectivity.
Data usage more than doubled from 14.9 million gigabytes to 34.3 million gigabytes, while voice usage grew 84%. Free Capitec-to-Capitec calls were launched to strengthen the proposition, with 70 million free minutes used during the reporting period.
The business also launched the sale of cell phones on the Capitec app, and 27,000 devices were sold in the past six months.
Capitec Connect piggybacks on Cell C’s mobile network infrastructure.
The banking group launched its MVNO in September 2022.
Capitec Limited reported headline earnings growth of 19% to R9.5 billion for the six months ended 31 August 2026, compared with R8.0 billion in August 2025. The result was underpinned by momentum across every one of its South African businesses.
Despite heightened global macroeconomic uncertainty, the group’s diversified model delivered broad-based, quality growth in Personal Banking, Business Banking, Fintech and Insurance, while it maintained a return on ordinary shareholders’ equity (ROE) of 31%.
“Our results show the power of the diversified business we have built over decades on strong fundamentals of simplicity, affordability, accessibility and a personalised experience,” the group said.
“Every one of our South African businesses grew earnings this period, even as the global environment stayed uncertain and economic growth remained muted. We kept fees unchanged for a second year running, invested in technology and in serving our clients better, supporting our strategy to build a banking platform that delivers shared value at scale.”
Reflecting confidence in the sustainability of earnings, the Board declared an interim dividend of 3,110 cents per share, up 19% from 2,620 cents in August 2025.
The cost-to-income ratio improved to 36% from 40%, evidence that investments made over the past several years are increasingly translating into scalable growth and stronger operating leverage.
