AMPS results show Capitec has pushed out Nedbank to become the fourth largest bank in terms of the number of people using Capitec for their main account.

According to a press release issued by Capitec today, the bank has overtaken Nedbank as South Africa’s fourth largest bank by market share of main account holders. This is based on the latest AMPS figures that were released this month and not to be confused with the official Reserve Bank figures which break down market share based on products.

The AMPS survey, which asked the question “which one bank do you regard as your main bank for your banking transactions?” shows that Capitec increased its market share from 7.9 percent to 10.8 percent for  the period of January 2012 to December 2012.

This is a 43 percent year-on-year growth among a main bank population of 22 million. Nedbank currently has a market share of 10.7 percent (down from 11 percent in 2011), while ABSA has retained the largest portion of 32.9 percent – down from 34.9 percent. Standard Bank only saw a 0.4 percent increase in market share from 23.5 to 23.9, while First National Bank went down from 25.6 to 25.2 percent.

Capitec also revealed their ad spend in comparison to the other four banks over the last year which shows that despite spending significantly less than any other bank, they have managed to grow their brand at a much higher rate. Over the last year Capitec spent R93 million on advertising compared to FNB’s R562 million.

Carl Fischer, Executive: Marketing and Corporate Affairs at Capitec Bank says, “We are still a small player amongst giants, but the significant growth in new clients who are depositing their income with us is a clear indication that the public trusts Capitec to meet their core banking needs. It also demonstrates that our unique banking model, that allows us to offer the lowest fees in the market through its simplified, innovative and transparent service, is highly compelling and we are confident that we will continue to increase our market share going forward.”

Capitec’s sustained growth was shared in its latest annual results announced in March this year. Among key highlights were the fact that its total client base increased by 26 percent to 4.7 million active clients, of whom 3.1 percent were cell phone banking clients; its headline earnings per share increased by 35 percent to 1519 cents and employee numbers grew by 1114 to 8308. This is in part due to the opening of 53 new branches this year. The bank is planning to open a further 75 branches over the course of the next financial year which brings its total footprint to 567.