Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Vodacom’s Maziv deal gets makeover ahead of crucial hearing

      18 July 2025

      Cut electricity prices for data centres: Andile Ngcaba

      18 July 2025

      Takealot taps Mr D to deliver toys, pet food and future growth

      18 July 2025

      ‘Oh, Ani!’: Elon’s edgy bot stirs ethical storm

      18 July 2025

      Trump U-turn on Nvidia spurs talk of grand bargain with China

      18 July 2025
    • World

      Grok 4 arrives with bold claims and fresh controversy

      10 July 2025

      Samsung’s bet on folding phones faces major test

      10 July 2025

      Bitcoin pushes higher into record territory

      10 July 2025

      OpenAI to launch web browser in direct challenge to Google Chrome

      10 July 2025

      Cupertino vs Brussels: Apple challenges Big Tech crackdown

      7 July 2025
    • In-depth

      The 1940s visionary who imagined the Information Age

      14 July 2025

      MultiChoice is working on a wholesale overhaul of DStv

      10 July 2025

      Siemens is battling Big Tech for AI supremacy in factories

      24 June 2025

      The algorithm will sing now: why musicians should be worried about AI

      20 June 2025

      Meta bets $72-billion on AI – and investors love it

      17 June 2025
    • TCS

      TCS+ | Samsung unveils significant new safety feature for Galaxy A-series phones

      16 July 2025

      TCS+ | MVNX on the opportunities in South Africa’s booming MVNO market

      11 July 2025

      TCS | Connecting Saffas – Renier Lombard on The Lekker Network

      7 July 2025

      TechCentral Nexus S0E4: Takealot’s big Post Office jobs plan

      4 July 2025

      TCS | Tech, townships and tenacity: Spar’s plan to win with Spar2U

      3 July 2025
    • Opinion

      A smarter approach to digital transformation in ICT distribution

      15 July 2025

      In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

      30 June 2025

      E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

      30 June 2025

      South Africa pioneered drone laws a decade ago – now it must catch up

      17 June 2025

      AI and the future of ICT distribution

      16 June 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CambriLearn
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SevenC
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » Banking » Here’s how many branches banks have shut in the last decade

    Here’s how many branches banks have shut in the last decade

    By Hilton Tarrant7 June 2019
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    The country’s big four traditional banks — Absa, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank — have together shut 695 branches since their respective peaks in the earlier part of this decade.

    For perspective, this equates to more than each of their individual branch networks. Over a similar period, only one bank, Capitec, has aggressively grown its footprint. It has increased this by two thirds, from 507 in 2011 to 840 at the end of February 2019.

    Standard Bank’s drastic move to close 104 branches, more than the 91 originally announced in March, sees its network shrink to the smallest among the four traditional players (if one counts all service centres/in-retailer outlets). By the end of June, it will likely have 525 branches, 201 fewer than the 726 it had at the end of 2013. For perspective, it will likely soon have as many branches as Capitec had nearly a decade ago.

    FNB is aggressively ‘calibrating’ its branch network, with a 9% reduction in space between July 2017 and June 2018

    Absa, which had significantly more branches than any of its rivals in the first half of this decade, has (very) slowly been trimming this number. In 2011, it had 885 physical outlets. By the end of 2018, this had reduced by 187 (a similar number to Standard Bank) to 698. This includes both branches and what the bank refers to as “sales centres”. Exclude the latter, and the number of branches decreases to 631. At its December retail and business banking investor day, it noted that it has an “extensive network with an opportunity to increase productivity”.

    FNB is aggressively “recalibrating” its branch network, with a 9% reduction in space between July 2017 and June 2018. This saw branch costs only increase by 1% over the year. While some space cuts are being achieved by making existing branches smaller (the Rivonia branch, for example, is less than half the size it used to be), it is also decreasing the actual number of outlets.

    ‘More cost-effective’

    Branches are down by 147 from the 2012 peak of 775. The number of branches is likely already materially below 600, given that the most recently published figure is from June 2018. Together with both of these reductions, it has also driven down the average cost of fitting out branches to R4.2-million. It says this is now “more cost-effective”.

    Nedbank’s space cuts started in 2014, when its network peaked. The high of 764 outlets included store-in-store branches as well as dedicated personal loans ones. The network of personal loans outlets (which peaked at around 55) has been completely shuttered, with in-retailer outlets relatively static in recent years at just over 100 (from a high of 149). It is uncertain whether its partnership with Pick n Pay (with in-store kiosks in Boxer supermarkets) will continue, given the retailer’s strong ties with TymeBank. The number of actual Nedbank branches is 498. It says 60% of its branches have been converted to its “new format”, with this to reach 84% by the end of next year. Nedbank said in March that it will also “slow down” on the roll-out of new branches.

    It also said it had “exceeded its 2020 targeted reduction of 30 000m² in branch space by achieving an actual space reduction of 32 971m² at December 2018, representing 14.3% of the total branch floor space it occupied in 2014″.

    Banks are aggressively moving their clients to digital channels

    In response to the “continued increase of servicing transactions across our self-service channels” it has revised this “targeted reduction in branch space to more than 45 000m² by the end of 2020”. This would equate to a full 20% of the floor space it occupied at its peak (in 2014).

    With the cuts by Nedbank, FNB and now Standard Bank, it remains to be seen if and how Absa will reduce its branch footprint.

    Capitec’s branch roll-out has moderated, with a 2% increase to 840 outlets in the 2019 financial year (to end February). In the prior year, it grew branches by 4%, while in 2017 it managed a 10% increase. Capitec can sustain a larger branch network because of its structurally lower cost structure.

    African Bank, previously only a lending business, has a network of 394 branches. With the recent push into transactional banking, this physical distribution will be even more important.

    TymeBank is utilising Pick n Pay’s store footprint, including Boxer supermarkets — nearly 800 stores — for its kiosks and to enable deposits and (free) cash withdrawals at till points.

    • This article was originally published on Moneyweb and is used here with permission


    Absa Capitec FNB Standard Bank top
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleTelkom shows way to fix South Africa’s broken SOEs
    Next Article Amazon’s satellite project will cost billions, Bezos says

    Related Posts

    Absa CEO Fihla to ditch ‘prison’ branches and revamp customer focus

    1 July 2025

    TymeBank may head to court in acrimonious fight with home affairs

    26 June 2025

    Schreiber finds ally in Capitec as TymeBank cries foul over fees

    25 June 2025
    Company News

    Vertiv to acquire custom rack solutions manufacturer

    18 July 2025

    SA businesses embrace gen AI – but strategy and skills are lagging

    17 July 2025

    Ransomware in South Africa: the human factor behind the growing crisis

    16 July 2025
    Opinion

    A smarter approach to digital transformation in ICT distribution

    15 July 2025

    In defence of equity alternatives for BEE

    30 June 2025

    E-commerce in ICT distribution: enabler or disruptor?

    30 June 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.