On 20 November, Capitec hosted its inaugural Innovation Exchange, showcasing how its growing technology ecosystem is reshaping secure and accessible banking in South Africa. Staying true to its roots as a disruptor, the bank revealed the advanced systems that have already prevented more than R300 million in client fraud in 2025. The Innovation Exchange showed that Capitec is confidently shaping the future of banking.
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At the Capitec Innovation Exchange, executives unpacked the full breadth of Capitec’s innovation ecosystem, from its landmark partnerships to advancements on its app, cross-border payments and innovation across its branches.
In the opening session, CEO of Capitec, Graham Lee reaffirmed Capitec’s founding purpose: “We have always been a bank built for 95% of the population. Every transaction is a signal of what people value – and with trillions of data points, we can build solutions that reflect the real needs of South Africans.”
Building South Africa’s most secure identity ecosystem
Capitec’s partnership with the Department of Home Affairs is already underway and has the potential to be a game changer. In a country where many people struggle to access IDs and passports, Capitec is bringing these services closer to clients. This shows how the bank listens to its clients’ needs and takes action to meet them.
Lee emphasised the importance of an excellent end-to-end value chain to ensure a seamless system.The bank plans to activate the service in 100 branches by mid-2026.
Key innovation highlights from the event
Fraud Prevention: State-of-the-art, AI-driven security systems prevented over R300 million in client fraud this year, blocking 80 000 mule accounts and 200 000 scammer payments. Client-control features put the client in charge:
Feature lock prevents fraud if a phone is compromised by locking features that clients rarely use.
Digital fingerprint creates a unique phone identity using the contact list, immediately flagging app access from an unauthorised device.
Location permissions have proven helpful in kidnapping cases and are actively used by 13 million of Capitec’s 14 million app clients.
Payment innovation: Driven by over 200% growth in trading merchants, more than R1 billion was funded to small businesses this year. Capitec Pay has pioneered the most secure online payments (24 million monthly transactions) and became the first in South Africa to secure international e-commerce payments to global platforms like Shein and Netflix.
Capitec Connect: Since March 2025, 1.1 million active SIMs have been rewarded with 449 terabytes of free data.
Global Reach: Cross-border payments are available in 8 African countries and have recently expanded to Pakistan and Bangladesh. The bank has eliminated international transaction fees on card payments since 1 October, saving clients R55 million while simplifying international transfers to a flat R175 fee for over 50 countries.
Live demonstrations showcased Capitec’s AI-enhanced fraud detection that can block mule accounts, biometric security features, in-branch technologies, and the zero-fraud performance of Capitec Pay.
Head of Financial Crime, Nick Harris, praised Capitec’s team of 2 000 engineers for powering the bank’s transformation through advanced fraud detection models, cloud based verification tools and behavioural analytics that have have prevented hundreds of millions in losses.
Tech that removes barriers and empowers people
In-app calling via Amazon Connect has delivered a 30% reduction in call handling times, but more importantly, has removed cost barriers to support. Clients have already saved R5 million in airtime – ensuring that secure help is available even with zero airtime or data.
Capitec is on a mission to empower South Africans through education. With extensive fraud awareness initiatives including Slam the Scam with Sis Thandi, Bank on It with BankerX and Business Day, and continuous updates via its app and WhatsApp, the bank is teaching people in their home languages how to recognise and prevent scams.
A Capitec card has become the best travel card. Group Executive of Marketing and Communications, Francois Viviers highlighted how each innovation is designed to help clients live better.
Capitec Bank is shaping the future with smarter fraud protection, affordable data through Capitec Connect, and faster, safer digital banking. With new features like international e-commerce payments and a partnership with Home Affairs to simplify IDs and passports, Capitec continues to redefine modern banking.
