08-07-2025
Capitec's growth dwarfs rivals as it closes in on FirstRand
Capitec is closing in on Africa's most valuable lender tag after outperforming the market over the past five years with its share price up nearly 350% in the period.
The Stellenbosch-based bank is now just R4bn shy of FirstRand's market value of R416bn on the JSE. South Africa's top six banks — FirstRand, Capitec, Standard Bank, Nedbank, Absa and Investec — are worth a combined R1.5-trillion.
Capitec's market value has gone up 348% in the past five years, taking the group's worth to R412bn. FirstRand, whose brands include FNB, Rand Merchant Bank and WesBank, is up 96% in the period, while Africa's largest bank by assets, Standard Bank, is up 121%.
Nedbank is up 137%, while Absa is up 120%, and Investec has surged 294% — the second-best performance in the sector behind Capitec in the period.
The outperformance of Capitec has seen the lender leapfrog Standard Bank as the country's second most valuable bank, with the latter worth R371bn on the local bourse.
The growth of South Africa's banks mirror the rally of the all-share index since the formation of the government of national unity a year ago.
