No-frills bank Capitec grew its account holders by 18% to 8.6-million during the year to end-February, it reported yesterday.
The bank declared a final dividend of R8, taking its total for the year to R12.50, an 18% increase from the previous year's R10.55.
What Capitec terms "primary banking clients" - those who make regular deposits, usually salaries - made up 46% of its client base.
Capitec opened 76 new branches during the financial year, many in "higher-end shopping malls" to draw wealthier customers from SA's traditional big four banks.
It launched a credit card in September. "So far, it has performed within our risk appetite. Clients earn interest of at least 5.35% per year on a positive balance," Capitec said.
The amount of money loaned grew by 10% to R45-billion, although the number of loan requests approved fell by 5% to 3.5-million.
"We granted lower-risk, higher-value loans to better-quality clients this year," the bank said. The average value of short-term loans (less than six months) was R1,905 and long-term loans R26,605. Total lending and investment income grew by 15% to R16-billion.
- BDLive
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