Share

The consumers have spoken, says Capitec on bank survey

Cape Town - Capitec Bank Holdings [JSE:CPI] maintains that a study suggesting that it is the most-used primary bank points to story of brand acceptance.

With over 120 000 customers opening accounts every month, Capitec Bank, is now the country's third largest retail bank, according to banking industry interim results of August 2016.

Consumer research group Nielsen found that Capitec Bank is also South Africa’s preferred and most-used primary bank.

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%.

A Capitec spokesperson told Fin24 that it is an ongoing study that has been conducted by Nielsen since 2006.  

"We participate annually in the study to track our growth in the market," said Charl Nel.

"We must remember these graphs only relate to the number of people indicating which bank they use as their primary bank - that is, which bank account their salary is deposited into and the one they use primarily for transactions."

The bank is still studying the report for more insights.

"At this stage we know the South African market has indicated who their preferred primary bank is."

Nel added that the graph tells a story of brand acceptance by the market over time.

"As you can see, during the start-up years Capitec had a very small share of the market. It’s only since 2013 that that we believe we reached a tipping point and more people joined us through word of mouth, and most notably from what their friends and family told them about us."

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 -0.15% at R689.99 at the close of markets on Friday.

Read Fin24's top stories trending on Twitter:

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
Who we choose to trust can have a profound impact on our lives. Join thousands of devoted South Africans who look to News24 to bring them news they can trust every day. As we celebrate 25 years, become a News24 subscriber as we strive to keep you informed, inspired and empowered.
Join News24 today
heading
description
username
Show Comments ()
Rand - Dollar
18.90
+0.2%
Rand - Pound
23.85
+0.2%
Rand - Euro
20.38
+0.3%
Rand - Aus dollar
12.31
+0.2%
Rand - Yen
0.12
+0.2%
Platinum
908.05
0.0%
Palladium
1,014.94
0.0%
Gold
2,232.75
-0.0%
Silver
24.95
-0.1%
Brent Crude
87.00
+1.8%
Top 40
68,346
0.0%
All Share
74,536
0.0%
Resource 10
57,251
0.0%
Industrial 25
103,936
0.0%
Financial 15
16,502
0.0%
All JSE data delayed by at least 15 minutes Iress logo
Company Snapshot
Editorial feedback and complaints

Contact the public editor with feedback for our journalists, complaints, queries or suggestions about articles on News24.

LEARN MORE
Government tenders

Find public sector tender opportunities in South Africa here.

Government tenders
This portal provides access to information on all tenders made by all public sector organisations in all spheres of government.
Browse tenders