"Capitec supports the department of home affairs' initiative to upgrade the National Population Register and enhance the stability and reliability of its online verification system," Capitec said in a statement on Wednesday.
"A secure and stable national identity system is crucial for safeguarding South Africans against fraud and fostering a trusted digital economy," it added.
TymeBank co-founder Coen Jonker on Tuesday published an open letter to Schreiber read it here in which the banking executive warned that the price hikes - from as low as 15c to R10/query - "threatens financial inclusion, digital transformation and national compliance efforts".
"The move is a crippling blow to financial inclusion and digital progress in South Africa," Jonker said. "This is not just a policy shift - it's a regressive tax on the most vulnerable South Africans. It undermines the progress we've made towards digital inclusion, weakens the financial sector's ability to comply with anti-money laundering laws and risks reversing efforts to exit the Financial Action Task Force FATF grey list."
"While we understand these crucial upgrades require a fee increase from the department, we have decided to absorb the additional costs. This means our clients will see no change to their banking fees because of this initiative for the current financial year," Capitec said. It didnt say whether it would be forced to increase its prices in its next financial year.