Capitec Bank and First National Bank FNB are the first banks to sign up to the Department of Home Affairs' new digital partnership model, which aims to increase the number of bank branches offering smart ID and passport services from the current 30 to hundreds more.
The expansion will include branches in both urban and rural areas across South Africa and to digital banking applications, Home Affairs Minister Dr Leon Schreiber said in a statement on Monday 11 August.
Capitec Bank to offer smart ID and passport servicesThe Department has partnered with various banks over the past decade to offer services at their branches, including FNB , Standard Bank, Nedbank, Absa and Discovery Bank.
This marks the first time Capitec Bank has joined the partnership. It previously avoided the initiative because of concerns that it would detract from its branch operations, according to BusinessTech .
However, the bank has now opted to join it given its new digital-first model. The original model relied on the costly duplication of Home Affairs staff and hardware inside bank branches, the Department explained.
It failed to take advantage of technology to dramatically expand services into all rural and urban areas where bank branches already exist, as well as onto secure banking apps that have come to be widely used across society.
Capitec is South Africas largest bank by number of customers, who are over 24 million. It has 880 branches countrywide, according to its 2025 Integrated Annual Report . It is therefore expected to boost the reach of Home Affairs services significantly.
The Department said Schreiber would visit Capitec and FNB this week to provide further information on how this reform will benefit all South Africans.
It marks the beginning of the end for long travelling distances to reach Home Affairs services, for long queues, as well as for the Green ID book with its unacceptable vulnerability to fraud and identity theft, it added.
This is also the next step in the new digital-first era of public service delivery that the government of national unity is building.