South Africa’s Capitec Bank (CPIJ.J), opens new tab on Tuesday reported a 36% rise in interim profit, higher than its forecast range, helped by lower loan losses.
Capitec’s headline earnings – the main profit measure in South Africa – rose to 6.394 billion rand ($370.14 million) in the six months to Aug. 31, from 4.697 billion rand a year earlier.
South Africa’s biggest retail bank by customer count with 23 million active clients saw its net interest income after credit impairments jump 72%. Non-interest income rose by 22%, driven by transaction and commission income.
The lender’s credit impairments declined by 15% to 729 million rand after it tightened its loan granting criteria during the 2023 and 2024 financial years as cash-strapped clients borrowed more than usual.
Capitec said its personal banking credit loss ratio – a measure of bad loans as a percentage of total advances – improved to 8.3% from 11% previously. The lender had targeted to reach that target by February 2025.
The company declared an interim dividend of 20.85 rand per share, up 36% from 15.30 rand per share reported a year earlier.