Standard Bank Group reported technology costs of R11.83-billion in its banking operations for the six months to 30 June, up just 2% on the R11.62-billion a year earlier – 3% growth in constant currency – in a period in which it said almost three-quarters of its staff were active users of generative AI tools.

The figure, disclosed in interim results published on Thursday, covers the banking technology function in full: software, cloud and technology-related costs, technology staff, amortisation of intangible assets, and depreciation and other expenses. It accounts for about 28% of banking operating expenses of R42.7-billion.

On a broadly comparable basis, Standard Bank remains the biggest technology spender in South African banking – its full-year 2025 figure was R23.5-billion, against the R16.7-billion Absa spent on IT including staff costs in the year to December 2025.

But the 2% headline understates what the bank is buying, because two accounting items dragged it down. Amortisation of intangible assets – a non-cash charge that runs off previously capitalised software – fell 26% to R835-million, while depreciation and other expenses slipped 2% to R482-million. Together those two lines fell 19%.

Strip them out and the trend reverses. Software, cloud and technology-related costs rose 6% to R7.16-billion, which the group attributed to contractual service escalations, higher cloud consumption and continued investment in strategic technology programmes. Technology staff costs rose 3% to R3.36-billion. Combined, the money going into technology and the people who run it was up 5% at R10.52-billion.

Funded by cuts elsewhere

What that 6% increase had to absorb is the interesting part. As at 30 June, 72% of Standard Bank employees were active users of generative AI tools, with 87 use cases approved.

AI-enabled recommendation capabilities supported more than 10 million personalised client interactions in the period, and 78% of the group’s migratable compute now sits in the cloud. In June, the bank was ranked the leading bank in Africa, and second overall, in the inaugural Evident AI Index for Banks – Middle East and Africa.

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The group listed expanding its AI capabilities among the drivers of higher software and cloud costs, alongside specialised technology skills, core banking modernisation and cybersecurity. It then said the increase was “partially offset by optimisation initiatives, including licence rationalisation, cloud efficiencies and infrastructure simplification”. On that reading, the AI build may be funded by cutting elsewhere in the estate rather than by new money.

That is consistent with the “save to invest” approach Standard Bank has committed to for the 2026 financial year, under which it expects its cost-to-income ratio to decline slightly while funding targeted strategic investments. The banking cost-to-income ratio improved to 49.3% from 49.5%.

The channel numbers complicate the usual automation story. In personal and private banking in South Africa, digital transactional volumes rose 17% to 1.7 billion and logins 22%, while ATM transaction volumes fell 22% and branch volumes 7%.

Yet the same business added branches rather than closing them, ending the period with 516 against 491 a year earlier, and points of representation rising from 640 to 686. Group headcount was up 1% to 51 200 and banking headcount 2% to 44 764.

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Two group figures are worth watching. Capital expenditure on property, equipment and intangible assets fell to R2.28-billion from R2.54-billion, and goodwill and other intangible assets declined 10% to R9.41-billion. Read alongside the drop in amortisation, that raises the question of whether Standard Bank is replenishing its capitalised software estate as fast as it is writing it off – the question behind Absa’s R2.4-billion software write-off, disclosed in March.