South African billionaire Michiel Le Roux's Capitec posts $1 billion profit as client base crosses 26 million for first time

Michiel Le Roux's Capitec Bank has crossed the billion-dollar profit line. The South African retail lender posted headline earnings of R16.8 billion, equivalent to $1.02 billion, for the financial year ended February 28, 2026. That is a 23% jump from R13.7 billion a year earlier, and it lands almost exactly where BA projected it would land when Capitec issued its earnings guidance in February.

The results confirm what the guidance was signaling: Capitec is no longer a challenger bank punching above its weight. It is the weight.

The bank's active client base surpassed 26 million for the first time, cementing its position as South Africa's largest retail lender by customer numbers. Personal Banking clients grew 7% to 25.2 million. Fully banked clients, those using Capitec as their primary financial institution, climbed 12% to 9.9 million and now account for 39% of the total base.

Net interest income rose 19% to R24.1 billion, powered by a 34% surge in total loan disbursements to R98.3 billion. Personal Banking lending grew 27%. Business Banking lending surged 48%, with the scored lending book expanding 118% to R3.1 billion and business clients rising 71% to 456,000.

The credit loss ratio edged up from 7.5% to 8.1%, and net credit impairment charges rose 21% to R9.98 billion. Capitec is lending more aggressively and absorbing the cost that comes with it.

Non-interest income is now the dominant story. It accounted for 67% of income from operations after credit impairments. Value-added services and Capitec Connect, the bank's mobile virtual network operator, grew 38% to R6.1 billion. Insurance income also jumped 38% to R5.2 billion. Operating profit before tax grew 25% to R22.18 billion.

Return on equity reached 31%. The bank declared a final dividend of R53.60 per share, up from R44.25 the prior year, bringing the total 2026 dividend to R79.80 per share, a 23% increase year on year.

Chief Executive Graham Lee, who took over from Gerrie Fourie in mid-2025, said the bank's fundamentals have not changed in 25 years. "We will continue to make banking simpler and more affordable while delivering value to our clients," he said.

The bank's AI fraud systems blocked more than 131,000 suspicious beneficiaries and prevented potential client losses of R673 million during the year. Digital adoption reached approximately 90% of the active client base, with 15 million active app users and digital wallet transactions more than doubling to 335 million.

Capitec also signaled it is designing initiatives to pursue international expansion and acquisitions over the longer term. The group's stake in AvaFin, the European consumer credit business it took to full subsidiary status in 2024, gives it a live international operation to learn from. CEO Lee has previously named Ethiopia as a market of interest as the bank maps a regional strategy.

Le Roux co-founded Capitec in 2001 alongside Jannie Mouton and Riaan Stassen. His stake in the bank, at approximately 11%, makes him one of the JSE's most consequential billionaires. The FY2026 results, the best in the bank's 25-year history, will add significantly to that standing.