Banking in South Africa comprises numerous competitive commercial banks (serving both consumers and businesses), private banks, asset management firms, and co-operative financial institutions. Many of these institutions, especially the commercial and private banks, also operate outside the country's borders.
South Africa has multiple independent governmental bodies working together to regulate the banking sector. The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) serves as SA's central bank, and the country's currency is the South African rand.
Credit profiles, including individual credit scores, are provided in SA by four main bureaus. These are TransUnion (the country's largest), Experian SA, XDS, and VCCB.
In 2025, South Africa had 17 registered commercial banks for its population of 64 million people. A total of 91.1% of banking income was held by the largest five of those banks. In July 2026, around 84% of South African adults had a bank account.
Also in 2025, South Africa had over 3,300 bank branches, over 22,000 ATMs, and around 150,000 employees working in the banking sector. In the same year, the market capitalization of just six of the country's major banking groups was worth over R1.6 trillion.
In recent years, there has been a shift away from cash-based transactions and the use of branches and ATMs in South Africa, towards the use of digital payments and virtual card transactions. This has been reported by multiple commercial banks. Some estimates show that as of January 2026, around a third of online transactions are processed via virtual cards, and around 66% of in-store card transactions are made using tap-to-pay smart devices, such as smartphones and smartwatches.
Commercial banking
Commercial banking in the country is dominated by the "big five" banks: Standard Bank, FNB, Absa, Nedbank, and Capitec. , they control nearly 90% of the sector's total assets.
Other major, established South African commercial banks include Investec (an exclusively private bank). More recent entrants into the banking market include digital-only GoTyme Bank, Bank Zero, Discovery Bank, and OM Bank.
Financials
As of 2025, FirstRand, the parent company of FNB, is the country's largest banking group by market capitalization, at almost R500 billion. Meanwhile, Standard Bank has the highest revenue and headline earnings. Capitec has the highest return on equity at 29% - significantly higher than its main competitors.
Also as of 2025, the total market capitalization of the big five banking groups amounts to R1.53 trillion.
The table below is ranked in descending order, according to market capitalization (the total value of a public company's outstanding shares) in South African rand, as at September 2025.
+Bank Market capitalization(R billion) Annual revenue(R billion) Headline earnings(R billion) HEPS (cents) Tier 1 capital(R billion) ROE (%) FirstRand (incl. FNB) 448.9 135.7 41.8 748 192.91 20.2Capitec 413.3 35.8 13.7 11,912 42.77 29.0Standard Bank 399 181.7 44.5 2,691 225.8 18.5ABSA 165.4 109.9 22.1 2,662 146.86 14.8Nedbank 105.8 73.5 16.9 2,662 101.7 15.8Totals 1,532.4 (~ 1.53 trillion) 536.6 232.9 – 710.04 –
Banking networks
Capitec has the largest branch network by far, at almost 900 in total, with the other four major commercial banks operating roughly the same number, at just over 600 each. Capitec also operates the largest ATM network, at almost twice the size of most of the other major commercial banks.
The table below is ranked in descending order, according to total number of branches, as at September 2025.
+Bank Parent company HQ (bank) Established Branches ATMsCapitec Capitec Bank Holdings Stellenbosch, Western Cape 880 8,798FNB FirstRand Sandton, Gauteng 630 4,771Standard Bank Standard Bank Group Johannesburg, Gauteng 626 3,450Nedbank Nedbank Group Sandton, Gauteng 623 4,297ABSA Absa Group Johannesburg, Gauteng 616 5,138Totals – – – 3,375 22,454
People
Standard Bank has the largest number of employees within the overall group, however, FNB has the highest by far in South Africa. Capitec has the most customers, by a significant margin, with almost twice as many as second-place Standard Bank. Capitec has 38% of the South African consumers who bank at one of the big five.
Combined, the "big five" banks account for almost 200,000 jobs (~ 150,000 in SA), and over 64 million banking customers.
The table below is ranked in descending order, according to total group employees, as at September 2025.
+Bank Employees (group) Employees (SA) Customers (SA, million)Standard Bank 54,115 29,378 12.4FNB 50,717 40,194 10ABSA 36,779 26,542 10Nedbank 25,613 23,600 7.6Capitec 16,935 16,935 24.1Discovery Bank – – 1.2OM Bank – – 0.742Totals 184,159 136,649 66.04
Private banking
Investec, a private bank, also operates in the United Kingdom. Investec maintains minimum annual salary and/or minimum net worth requirements in order to be eligible to open an account. Headquartered in Cape Town, Investec has (as of 2024) over 7,000 employees, and around R730 billion in assets.
+ Private bank Parent company HQ Established Annual revenue (R billion) Adjusted operating profit (R billion) Total assets (R billion) Customers (SA) Ref. Investec Investec Limited Cape Town, Western Cape 8.14 3.23 251.83 128,000
Most major commercial banks also offer their own private banking tiers. However, these are not as exclusive as banking with independent private-banking-only institutions, and don't carry the same prestige or the same level of personal customer service. These include:
FNB Private (FirstRand) Standard Bank Private (Standard Bank Group) Absa Private Banking (Absa Group) Nedbank Private Wealth (Nedbank Group)
Investment banking
South Africa has several major corporate and investment banking operations serving large companies, financial institutions, governments, and other institutional clients. These are generally divisions within larger financial institutions, and they provide services relating to matters including mergers and acquisitions; equity capital markets; debt financing; advisory; capital markets; corporate lending; specialized financing; corporate transactional banking services; and project and infrastructure financing.
Firms providing this kind of investment banking include Investec, RMB, Standard Bank Group, Absa Group, and Nedbank Group.
Asset management
South Africa is home to numerous asset management firms, some of which are independent, while others are subsidiaries of major financial institutions. Most of these are headquartered in either Cape Town or Johannesburg. As of June 2025, total assets under management (AUM) held by major investment firms in SA, attributable to South African clients, totaled over R5.12 trillion. They are as follows:
Asset manager Parent company HQ (asset manager) Year of establishment Assets under management (R billion) Ref. Ninety One Ninety One Limited Cape Town,Western Cape 909.93 STANLIB Liberty Holdings Johannesburg, Gauteng 804.42 Coronation Independent Cape Town,Western Cape 668.47 Sanlam Investment Management Ninety One Limited Cape Town,Western Cape 646.09 Alexforbes Investments Alexander Forbes Group Holdings Johannesburg, Gauteng 467.76 Sanlam Multi-Managers Sanlam Cape Town,Western Cape 436.40 Old Mutual Investment Group Old Mutual Cape Town,Western Cape 427.49 Nedgroup Investments Nedbank Group Cape Town,Western Cape 427.43 Momentum Momentum Group Limited Centurion, Gauteng 336.35 Total – – – 5,124.34 (~ 5.12 trillion) –
Credit scoring
Four main credit bureaus maintain credit profiles on South Africans. These profiles include credit history, as well as credit scores based on each bureau's particular scoring system. Two of the companies are South African, and two are local operating entities of foreign firms. TransUnion is SA's largest credit bureau. The four bureaus are:
Bureau Company type HQ Local office Established in SA Credit scoring system Free reports & providers Ref. TransUnion Foreign USA Sandton, Gauteng Excellent: 767–999Good: 681–766Favorable: 614–680Average: 583–613Below Average: 527–582Unfavorable: 487–526Poor: 0–486 Yes, via the Old Mutual Creditview portal Experian Foreign Ireland Johannesburg, Gauteng Excellent: > 850Good: 751–850Fair: 681–750Poor: 551–680Very Poor: < 550 Yes, via the Up by Experian portal XDS Domestic SA Sandton, Gauteng Great: > 657Good: 634–657Average: 616–633Below Average: 599–615Poor: < 599 Yes, via the Old Mutual Rewards portal VCCB Domestic SA Potchefstroom, North West Very Low Risk: 901–1000Low Risk: 876–900Medium Low Risk: 851–875Medium Risk: 801–850Medium High Risk: 751–800High Risk: 601–750Very High Risk: 3–600 Yes, via the VCCB website
Banking legislation and regulatory authorities
Regulations pertaining to banking in South Africa follow a "twin peak" model, being set by two major independent entities; the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), and the Prudential Authority (PA). This model was established as part of the 2017 Financial Sector Regulation Act (FSR Act).
On the one side, the FSCA governs market conduct regulations, supervising and setting regulations for the conduct of financial institutions.
On the other side, the PA governs prudential regulations. The PA is focused on the regulation and supervision of financial institutions that provide financial products or services and market infrastructure.
Together, these two authorities carry out their functions in order to protect financial customers and maintain financial stability in South Africa.
All banks in South Africa have to register as such, and comply with the Banks Act.
The South African Reserve Bank
The South African Reserve Bank (SARB), is the national monetary authority, and serves as South Africa's central bank, having been established in 1921. SARB was the fourth central bank established outside of Europe, having existed since 1921. It is headed by a Governor, a role which is currently held by Lesetja Kganyago, who succeeded Gill Marcus.
SARB has, among others, the following responsibilities within its remit:
Formulating and implementing monetary policy Issuing bank notes and coins Controlling gold and foreign-exchange reserves Supervising the financial services sector Acting (independently) as banker to the South African Government Ensuring the effective functioning of the national payment system (NPS) Acting as lender of last resort in exceptional circumstances Administering the country's remaining exchange controls
Other entities
Regulatory authorities and government entities working in the banking sector include:
Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
Legislation
Legislation that governs banking in South Africa includes:
Banks Act, 1990. Financial Sector Regulation Act, 2017. Prudential Authority within SARB. Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001 and Financial Intelligence Centre. Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (FAIS). National Credit Act, 2005 (NCA). Information Regulator and Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPI). South African Reserve Bank Act 90, of 1989 Postbank Limited Act 9, of 2010 National Payment System Act 78, of 1998 Companies Act 71, of 2008
The FSR Act regulates co-operation between the FSCA and PA, the SARB, the Financial Stability Oversight Committee, the National Credit Regulator, and the FIC.
Potential new entrants
In September 2025, UK-based digital financial institution Revolut announced its intention to apply for a banking license and launch a bank in the SA market. In mid-2026, it was reported that the bank set a goal of launching in SA by 2028.
In July 2026, the largest bank in the UAE, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), confirmed its intention to apply for a South African banking license. This followed a court ruling in favor of FAB, after a decade-long court battle with FirstRand, relating to trademark infringement with FNB.
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