Capitec is building a business banking giant with just one account

Capitec is using the same principles that allowed it to attain 26.6 million clients to develop what it hopes to become a business banking giant.

This means offering only one account to its business banking clients, regardless of size, type, value, or turnover.

The one-account-fits-all approach makes Capitec unique among its business banking competitors, which tend to focus more on personalisation when looking to attract clientele.

So far, Capitec’s approach appears to be working. In the first half of its 2027 financial year, the company’s business banking client base more than doubled, growing by 109% to 686,000 businesses and entrepreneurs.

At a media roundtable following these results’ presentation, Capitec CEO Graham Lee said business banking is set to become a significant growth engine for the company in the coming years.

With Capitec’s personal banking unit now boasting a client base of 25.7 million – the biggest among all South African banks – the company is turning its attention to the business banking segment.

The company launched its overhauled Capitec Business offering in 2023, and has seen significant growth since.

In the six months through August 2026, Capitec’s Business Banking division saw headline earnings surge 52% to R609 million.

Net interest income in this division grew 41% to R1.4 billion, driven by a 34% rise in lending interest income to R1.9 billion.

Capitec’s business clients – which includes merchants, entrepreneurs, and traditional business – grew by 109% to 686,000.

Of this total, 545,000 are counted as business clients, representing an increase of 123% year-on-year.

Entrepreneurs have become a critical growth engine for this segment, with entrepreneur accounts skyrocketing 204% to 237,000.

Formal businesses make up 198,000 of the total business client base, and are up 47% year-on-year.

‘Massive, massive runway’

In the half-year results presentation, Capitec Business head Karl Kumbier said this segment has now shifted from an investment and foundation-building phase into a growth phase.

One critical step supporting this transition was completed in the six months through August, when Capitec replatformed its entire business banking suite to AWS Cloud Services and Salesforce CRM.

Kumbier explained that this cloud platform provides high stability and allows the business to scale transaction volumes without requiring proportional increases in expenditure.

In short, Capitec Business now has the technological backing to scale and add millions of clients to its base.

Capitec currently captures only 5% of the total Business Banking profit pool in South Africa, with 3% market share in business lending and holding 2% market share in business deposits.

With Capitec Business having only been in the market as an overhauled entity for three years now, Kumbier said this low market penetration means its growth phase is backed by a “massive, massive runway” in the South African market.

To take advantage of this runway, Kumbier explained that Capitec is operating a “flywheel model” to capture market share, which consists of five self-reinforcing components.

Lower costs and transparent pricing will allow Capitec to acquire more clients, which will give the bank access to more data.

This data accumulation will allow the bank to offer pre-approved credit lines, enabling it to cross-sell services to existing clients.

This will generate higher-margin revenue to further lower costs and enhance clients’ experience, setting the “flywheel” in motion again.

Kumbier said this cycle and future growth will be achieved by following the same four fundamentals that allowed Capitec to become the biggest bank in South Africa by clients: simplicity, affordability, accessibility, and personalised experience.

The first principle, simplicity, is the reason why Capitec, unlike its competitors, offers only one account.

“We’ve got one account for everyone – doesn’t matter if you’re a tiny business or a big business,” Kumbier said. 

“Some of our competitors out there have up to 32 different variations of a transactional account. We’ve only got one.” 

However, the simplicity principle does not stop there. Capitec is also the only local bank that charges its business clients the same amount for transactions as it does its personal banking clients.

This links to the second Capitec fundamental, affordability. “We wanted to be the most affordable in the market by a long way,” Kumbier said.

“Why should businesses pay you a higher amount? It’s the same rails as personal banking.”

Lee said the business banking unit will become a significant growth engine for Capitec in the coming years, and likely its fastest-growing business unit.