(Bloomberg) — Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd., the South African provider of unsecured loans, said profit in the year through February climbed 26 percent as it benefited from the collapse of rival African Bank Investments Ltd.
Net income rose to 2.56 billion rand ($215 million) from 2.04 billion rand a year earlier, the lender, based in Stellenbosch near Cape Town, said in a statement. Basic earnings per share also rose 26 percent to 22.09 rand from 17.52 rand and the bank declared a final dividend per share of 5.90 rand.
African Bank’s failure in August helped Capitec to increase market share as it gained customers from its larger rival. As its business expanded, the share price also rose, more than doubling in the year under review. Client numbers increased by 856,000 to 6.2 million, with 16.8 percent of South Africans regarding Capitec as their primary bank, the lender said.
“The growth in primary banking clients is an exciting trend that we expect to continue, helping to offset the impact of the new limits on card processing fees,” the bank said.
Capitec’s lending practices have been investigated by the National Credit Regulator. Separately, in February it was fined 5 million rand by the banking regulator for not reporting cash transactions exceeding 24,999 rand, in keeping with South Africa’s Financial Intelligence Center Act. Capitec said the FICA breach was “an oversight” that it discovered and reported to the central bank itself.
