Capitec and First National Bank are the first banks to sign up to the Department of Home Affairs’ new digital partnership model which will expand access to Smart ID and Passport services from the current 30 branches to hundreds more across the country.
In fulfilment of the target set by Cabinet in the Medium-Term Development Plan – which tasks Home Affairs with expanding its services to 1 000 bank branches by 2029 – the DG of the Department, Tommy Makhode, wrote to the CEOs of ABSA, African Bank, Tyme Bank, Capitec Bank, Discovery Bank, First National Bank, Investec Bank, Nedbank, and Standard Bank inviting them to join this transformative, digital-first new phase of the Department’s existing collaboration with the banking sector.
This collaboration dates back more than a decade and has, until now, seen the successful delivery of Smart ID and Passport services at only 30 branches across five different banks.
However, that original model relied on the costly duplication of Home Affairs staff and hardware inside bank branches and failed to take advantage of technology to dramatically expand services into all rural and urban areas where bank branches already exist – as well as on to secure banking apps that have come to be widely used across society.
As the first banks to respond positively to the invitation to further enhance the long-standing partnership between Home Affairs and the banking sector, Minister Leon Schreiber will visit Capitec and FNB this week to provide further information on how this reform will benefit all South Africans.
The Department says it also marks the beginning of the end for long travelling distances to reach Home Affairs services, for long queues, as well as for the Green ID book with its unacceptable vulnerability to fraud and identity theft.