Capitec and FNB Team Up to Provide Smart ID and Passport Solutions

Johannesburg – Soon, South Africans will be able to apply for smart IDs and passports through Capitec Bank and First National Bank.

On Monday, 11 August 2025, Home Affairs Minister Dr. Leon Schreiber announced that Capitec and FNB are the inaugural banks to join the department’s innovative digital partnership model.

The minister emphasized that this new model will enhance access to smart ID and passport services, expanding from the current 30 locations to hundreds of additional bank branches in both urban and rural regions across South Africa, as well as via digital banking applications.

The Cabinet’s Medium-Term Development Plan assigns the Home Affairs department the target of extending services to 1,000 bank branches by 2029.

As part of this move, the Director-General of the Department, Tommy Makhode, reached out on 30 April 2025 to the Chief Executive Officers of ABSA, African Bank, TymeBank, Capitec Bank, Discovery Bank, First National Bank, Investec Bank, Nedbank, and Standard Bank.

Makhode invited these institutions to engage in this pioneering, digital-first chapter of the Department’s enduring collaboration with the banking sector.

“This partnership has been in existence for over a decade and has successfully provided smart ID and passport services at only 30 branches across five banks,” the department noted.

“However, the former model relied on costly duplication of Home Affairs staff and equipment within bank branches, not leveraging technology to significantly enhance access to services in both rural and urban areas with existing bank branches and secure banking apps widely used in society.”

Minister Schreiber plans to visit Capitec and FNB this week to discuss how this reform will benefit all South Africans.

This visit to the first banks that positively responded to the invitation will further fortify the long-standing partnership between Home Affairs and the banking sector.

The department stated that this initiative signifies the beginning of overcoming lengthy travel distances for Home Affairs services, reducing waiting times, and eliminating the green ID book, which has been unduly susceptible to fraud and identity theft.

The department affirmed that this transition is vital for entering a new digital-first era of public service delivery that the Government of National Unity is committed to establishing.