Cape Town - Capitec Bank Holdings [JSE:CPI] has significantly increased its lead as South Africa’s most popular bank, with over 120 000 customers opening accounts every month.
Capitec Bank, which is now the country's third largest retail bank, is also the preferred and most-used primary bank.
This is according to data compiled by consumer research group Nielsen. The survey was commissioned by Capitec and polled 2 328 banking clients.
Three out of 10 (29%) banking customers pointed to Capitec as their primary bank – 11 percentage points greater than FNB’s 18%. Absa tracked behind at 17%, followed by Standard Bank with 15% and Nedbank with 10%.
“These results are testament to the success of our vision and values, keeping our costs low, giving customers the freedom to pay as they transact as well as offering the highest interest of 5.35% on a positive bank balance”, said Capitec spokesperson Charl Nel.
“Capitec is also the most affordable bank in South Africa,” said Nel. More than 5.5 million of Capitec clients pay less than R50 per month in bank costs.
Capitec said last year that 648 000 new clients joined the bank in the six months to end-August.
According to Solidarity's 2016 Bank Charges Report, Capitec was described as generally the cheapest bank for the needs of most people, despite strong competition from other banks.
Shares in Capitec were down -0.29% at R700.00 at the close of markets on Wednesday.
Nielsen’s report also provided data on the provincial breakdown, showing which bank holds the most primary accounts in Gauteng, the Western and Eastern Cape and KwaZulu Natal.
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