Major banks closing ATMs across South Africa, except for one

Capitec continues expanding its ATM network across South Africa, while its competitors continue to cut back.

Speaking to journalists ahead of his imminent retirement, Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie said that South Africa’s largest bank by customer numbers will add 800 new ATMs across South Africa.

Fourie said that Capitec’s strategy stands in contrast with that of many of its younger competitors, such as TymeBank, Discovery Bank, and Bank Zero.

These new challenger banks do not have ATMs and use existing infrastructure at other banks and retailers to give customers access to cash.

The move to expand its ATM network is also in contrast to the traditional “Big Four” retail banks—FNB, Standard Bank, Absa and Nedbank—that have been slowly cutting back on their ATM network.

A recent assessment by MyBroadband showed that the number of ATMs operated by the Big Four banks dropped by over 8,000 over the last five years.

Standard Bank’s total number of ATMs dropped by 3,759 to 5,562, Absa’s by 3,518 to 5,138, FNB’s by 1,010 to 4,770 and Nedbank’s by 58 to 4,199.

The data showed that Capitec is the only large bank growing its ATM network, increasing from 5,011 in 2019 to 8,798 in the latest figures.

A recent study by Merchant Machine revealed that ATM numbers have significantly reduced in several countries, including South Africa. 

South Africa has seen an annual shrinkage rate of 2.67% in ATMs nationwide since 2012. This means that South Africa could be ATM-free in 32 years.

Capitec wants to change

Capitec is in a unique position as a ‘legacy’ bank (a bank with physical branches and an ATM network) that has a large base of lower-income individuals.

These customers rely on cash for transactions more than other consumers, which also informs Capitec’s expansion of other physical points of presence, like branches.

However, even as the bank expands its physical network, Fourie said that the bank prefers that its customer base move away from cash.

A shift to digital payments is seen as more secure for the customer, decreasing the chances of fraud.

He added that using cards and digital payments also gives Capitec more data on its customers’ spending habits, which allows the bank to monitor usage patterns and inform research and development.

A shift from cash to digital payments has already seen these transactions decline in number, but the transaction values are now far higher.

Other data reports show that cash remains king in South Africa, but the landscape is changing.

Discovery Bank’s latest SpendTrend report for 2025 showed that people still use cash for a variety of reasons, largely out of habit, but it is starting to lose appeal.

The report noted that 84% of South Africans preferred using cards or digital payments when possible.

This is especially true for younger consumers, where 83% prefer using more digital payments than a year ago.

Two-thirds of respondents said they only use cash a few times a month, while 93% of South Africans said they prefer digital payments for anything over R100.

“Cash is becoming less common as a payment method, with most South Africans now favouring digital transactions,” said Discovery.

“With digital payment options offering greater convenience, better incentives and increased security, cash is gradually being replaced, and this trend shows no sign of slowing down.”