Johannesburg – South Africans can quickly apply for smart IDs and passports at Capitec Bank and First National Bank.
Announced the development on Monday, August 11, 2025, Home Minister Dr. Leon Schreiber said Capitec and FNB were the first banks to sign up for the department's new digital partnership model.
The minister said the model would expand access to smart ID and passport services to existing 30 to hundreds of bank branches in urban and rural South Africa, as well as digital banking applications.
The Cabinet's medium-term development plan imposes internal affairs by expanding services to 1,000 bank branches by 2029.
In Target's performance, on April 30, 2025, Division Director Tommy McCord wrote to the CEOs of Absa, Africa Bank, Tim Bank, Capitec Bank, Discovery Bank, First National Bank, Invest Bank, Ned Bank and Standard Bank.
Makhode has invited us to take part in this transformative, digital-first new phase of existing collaborations with the banking sector.
“This collaboration dates back more than 10 years, and so far, we have successfully delivered smart ID and passport services to five different banks at 30 branches,” the department explained.
“However, its original model relies on costly overlaps of interior staff and hardware within bank branches, and has not been able to utilize technology to dramatically expand services to all rural and urban areas where bank branches already exist, expanding the service to secure banking apps that are widely used throughout society.”
Minister Schreiber will visit Capitec and FNB this week to provide further information on how this reform will benefit all South Africans.
The first bank visit to actively respond to the invitation will further strengthen the long-standing partnership between the interior affairs and the banking sector.
The department said this marks the beginning of the end of long distance travelling to reach a green ID book with long queues, long queues, and unacceptable vulnerability to fraud and identity theft.
The department said the move is the next step in the new digital-first era of public service delivery, which the National Unity Government was building.
