Capitec, SA’s largest bank by customer numbers, is ramping up its data-driven strategy by filling nearly 25% of new positions with technology and data skills.
The Stellenbosch-based company in the 2025 financial year hired nearly 1,600 new employees, taking its workforce to more than 16,000.
“In line with our technology and data-driven strategy, 22% of the external appointments filled technology and data roles,” the lender said in its latest annual report.
Data mining has been crucial to Capitec’s growth over the years, helping it to rapidly take new, innovative products to market.
The bank, which has more than 24-million customers, has accumulated about 2-trillion data points, which it uses to create value beyond banking through its three businesses — retail and business banking and insurance — as it implements its strategic initiatives.
The lender has invested more than R6.3bn over the past three years replatforming its IT systems for stability, agility and scale, and systems moved to Amazon Web Services cloud developed innovative payment solutions.
In the 2025 financial year, the company reported its IT expenses, excluding salaries, grew to R2.5bn, exceeding the prior year by 34%.
“The increase stems from continued investment in systems and platforms. The cloud-based computing fees increased by 39% as we continued to invest in housing data in the cloud. This unlocks efficiencies in our systems and allows us to scale our operations more easily,” it said.
Capitec is positioning itself as an employer of choice in the financial services industry amid a fierce war for talent.
The Gerrie Fourie-led bank said attracting and retaining the best talent was critical to the company’s strategy.
The group has also embraced diversity of its workforce while its US peers are facing big pressure from the Trump administration to ditch their diversity, equity and inclusion plans.
Capitec said that in 2025 about 1,588 new or vacant job opportunities were filled by external applicants, of which 91% were black candidates, “reflecting our commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion in the workplace”.
While Capitec increased its headcount in the year under review, its data shows thousands of South Africans were queuing up to join the lender’s ranks.
The company said it had received 851,808 external applications in the year, a 46.3% increase from the previous financial year.
“Our strategy to become an employer of choice continues and reinforces our commitment to attracting top talent with scarce and critical skills in areas such as technology and data, credit, fraud and financial crime, while ensuring a healthy fusion of fresh ideas and expertise within our organisation,” it said.
“This financial year, we have adopted a more targeted approach, leveraging strategic partnerships, direct sourcing, AI-driven talent matching and enhanced employer branding to attract the right talent more efficiently.”
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