Just more than 200 bank branches are now offering smart card services as part of a digital partnership with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA).
This is up from 32 under the previous model, which ended when the 2024/25 fiscal year drew to a close.
More than 250 000 people have already used this service to obtain a replacement smart ID card since it was launched on 9 March, the department says in a statement.
“Given that, under the previous model, only 248 Home Affairs offices and 32 bank branches offered smart ID replacement services, the addition of 203 bank branches means that access to this critical service has been expanded by 73% in a little over three months,” it says.
The 203 branches now live include 109 Capitec branches, 74 Standard Bank branches and 20 FNB branches, which process a smart ID application in less than five minutes with no paperwork, no prior booking and no room for discretion, says the department.
Digital marriage
In August, Standard Bank, Capitec, FNB and Absa announced they would be integrating smart ID and passport applications into their apps, forming part of an expanded digital model aimed at overhauling a pilot project put in place in 2016.
The first phase saw banks expanding the number of branches at which identification documents could be secured, part of the DHA’s plan to expand ID and passport applications to an initial 1 000 bank branches by 2029.
In May, Home Affairs said it had processed 118 434 smart IDs through its digital partnership with banks in eight weeks. It aims to offer this service at 750 bank branches by the end of the year.
The DHA will shortly also add first-time smart ID applications, passport applications and home deliveries to all of these bank branches, minister Dr Leon Schreiber says. He aims to extend the identification service to “every corner of South Africa”.
“Reaching more than 200 participating bank branches and processing over 250 000 transactions in just over three months since the launch of this project is a remarkable achievement,” says Schreiber.
The ID dilemma
About 16 million South Africans still rely on the green ID book, which is prone to fraud and identity theft, says the DHA. In 2019, the World Bank noted the green barcoded ID book had been in use since 1986.
The VerifyNow State of Identity Fraud 2026 report describes the legacy green ID book as “the single biggest identity fraud vulnerability,” noting it was responsible for a 400% surge in impersonation fraud between April 2023 and April 2024.
“As recently affirmed by president Cyril Ramaphosa, replacing it with the smart ID card is essential to strengthening the integrity of South Africa’s identity system, protecting citizens against fraud and identity theft, and securing the population register that underpins citizenship, immigration and national security,” Home Affairs says.
Schreiber aims to “finally end the recognition of the green ID book as a valid form of identification”. “This represents the largest reform and expansion of access to Home Affairs services since the dawn of democracy,” the DHA says.
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