Capitec and FirstRand near R500bn valuation in banking race

The market value of SA’s two most valuable lenders, FirstRand and Capitec, is fast approaching the R500bn mark each as competition in the sector heats up, fuelled by fintech and value-added services.

Capitec is SA’s largest bank by customer numbers, having amassed 25-million clients, and is valued north of R450bn — almost neck and neck with FirstRand as the banking majors battle it out for the most valuable bank spot.

Capitec’s share price has surged more than 150% over the past five years, valuing the group at about R463bn on the JSE on Thursday, with FirstRand up 73% in the same period, taking its value to R466bn.

Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank by assets, is not far off from being the most valuable bank, valued at R450bn on the JSE and up 113% in the past five years.

Capitec’s share price of just under R4,000 is a far cry from the R2.60 it was quoted at in March 2003. In essence, Capitec is now worth more than Nedbank, Absa and Investec’s SA business combined.

In SA banking terms, Capitec is still a relative “start-up” being a mere 25 year old versus peers with a legacy spanning more than 150 years.

While Capitec has seen an exponential growth in customer numbers, revenue and share price, FirstRand, Standard Bank, Nedbank and Absa have more diversified portfolios, offering high finance services.

Standard Bank’s corporate and investment banking franchise, SA’s biggest, reported headline earnings of R20.5bn in the 2025 financial year, almost half of the group’s earnings and more than the R13.7bn profit reported by Capitec across its operations in the year.

While Standard Bank, Absa, FirstRand and Nedbank have looked to Africa and corporate finance for growth, Capitec has stuck to the areas it believes it has a right to win: the mass market and small businesses.

The market view is that while Capitec has already achieved many years of high rates of growth in earnings, its share of the economic profit pools for which it competes remains small. Its large retail banking customer base remains underpenetrated with large opportunities for cross-sell and up-sell.

From having about 250 branches and few ATMs in 2005, Capitec has grown to nearly 900 branches, with the highest number of ATMs across SA at almost 9,000.

The group has seen a surge in headline earnings over the past decade with growth from R2.5bn in the 2015 financial year to R13.7bn in the year to end-February.

The lender has 51% market share of SA’s youth population with 11.1- million of its clients aged 16-35.

FirstRand recently purchased a 20% stake in AI-powered fintech multinational Optasia for about R4.7bn, a move that ratings agency Moody’s said was credit positive.

FirstRand is also on the verge of acquiring the wealth and retail banking business of Standard Chartered Bank Zambia, having also made a move for HSBC’s SA business.

Absa bought Standard Chartered’s Ugandan wealth and retail businesses.