The ability to harness customer data is set to define the next era of competition among South Africa’s major banks.
This is one of the key findings from PwC’s Major Banks Analysis 2025 report, which highlights how the first half of 2025 (1H25) was a period of strategic recalibration.
Against a backdrop of mixed global growth, geopolitical instability, trade uncertainties and shifting monetary policy, it says the country’s financial giants continued to demonstrate resilience as pillars of stability.
The firm says South Africa’s major banks have entered the second half of 2025 from a position of strength. It points out that the banks’ 1H25 financial performance is a testament to disciplined strategy execution that prioritises long-term resilience.
“By successfully managing immediate pressures, while investing in the foundational technologies and strategies required for future growth, they continue to demonstrate a sophisticated understanding of their role in a dynamic African economy.
“For the rest of 2025 and over the medium-term, we continue to expect South Africa’s major banks to remain seized with executing on their strategies with intent.”
Faster progress
PwC underscores that customer data has become a strategic asset. It notes the banks that are able to leverage customer information – within strict personal data privacy frameworks – to deliver hyper-personalised products, sharpen credit scoring and elevate customer service, will be the ones to pull ahead, particularly in light of Africa’s youthful, fast-growing customer base.
According to the consultancy firm, SA’s major banks are transitioning core systems onto cloud platforms, modernising payments and consolidating into unified hubs.
As a result, new products that once took months to launch are now delivered within weeks, while compliance with evolving regulations is increasingly built into product and system development cycles. This agility allows banks to adapt to customer expectations more rapidly, says PwC.
Emerging technologies are also shaping the sector, it notes. PwC observes that use cases of generative AI are expanding into retail credit scoring, fraud detection and customer-facing chatbots.
“Consequently, we continue to observe banking applications increasingly being designed around making customers’ lives easier by expanding the range of value-added services available on banking apps, payments optimisation, and broader and faster product delivery.”
African customers, PwC adds, now expect real-time insights powered by data and analytics – from savings recommendations, to alerts about risky spending – supported by in-app biometrics and secure messaging.
The result, it says, is that “AI is making, and will continue to make, customer experiences more seamless and engaging”.
Digitalisation, however, brings risk. The report notes that cyber security investments are being scaled up proportionally, reflecting recognition that digital trust is the foundation of modern banking.
Banks are also moving beyond regulatory compliance to more sophisticated optimisation, using advanced analytics to dynamically allocate capital and stress-test against a wider set of risks, including climate and geopolitical shocks.
PwC stresses that despite the challenges, the banks’ balance sheets remain supported by strong capital, liquidity and risk management positions.
Wider spread
Rivaan Roopnarain, PwC South Africa banking and capital markets partner, says: “The defining narrative accompanying the major banks’ results for the first half of 2025 is one of disciplined strength.
“While operating conditions remained complex, characterised by low domestic growth and amplified by shifts in the geopolitical landscape and global trade uncertainties, the major banks’ management teams navigated the period honing their strengths, enhancing customer experiences and capitalising on opportunities to further extract efficiencies.”
Capturing continental growth remains a central mission. PwC points out that banks are expanding across Sub-Saharan Africa by leveraging technology and innovation to reinvent business models, despite challenges such as currency volatility.
“Growth from businesses across Africa has continued to increase as the major banks continue to leverage technology and innovation and adapt operating models to challenge and reinvent their business models.”
Francois Prinsloo, PwC Africa banking and capital markets leader, adds: “The major banks continue to demonstrate agility in operating in complex conditions.
“The migration of nearly 21 million clients to digital platforms is now the central fact of retail banking in South Africa and the rest of the continent. In response, the major banks continue to evolve to market and customer trends – while fortifying cyber defences and overall IT resilience – by crafting personalised customer experiences that anticipate needs and erase friction.”
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