Big-four bank Standard Bank’s IT spend reached R11.8 billion for the six months ended 30 June.
Standard Bank Group says 72% of employees were active users of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools, as of 30 June, with 87 use cases approved.
This, as the bank continues to scale the deployment of technology and AI across both client-facing and employee workflows.
Africa’s biggest bank by assets today announced its interim results for the six months ended 30 June (1H26), reporting headline earnings of R26.1 billion, up 10%.
During the period, Standard Bank also reported a higher return on equity (ROE) of 19.8%, which it says is comfortably within the group’s 2028 ROE target range of 18% to 22%.
In the results, the bank highlights that AI-enabled recommendation capabilities have supported more than 10 million personalised client interactions in the current period.
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“This is underpinned by a technology platform, with 78% of our migratable compute now in the cloud, providing a scalable foundation for the continued deployment of AI across the group.”
South African banks, including Standard Bank, have increased technology investments to stay competitive in a rapidly digitising financial services landscape.
In an interview last September, Standard Bank Groupchief information officer Jörg Fischer told ITWeb that the big-four bank would make AI training compulsory for its employees.
Fischer noted that the bank was rapidly deploying AI throughout the business to boost customer experience and employee productivity.
The bank’s AI deployment efforts appear to be paying dividends as it was “ranked as the leading bank in Africa (including South Africa) and second overall across Middle East and Africa” in the inaugural Evident AI Index for Banks – Middle East and Africa, which benchmarks AI maturity for banks across the region.
Sim Tshabalala, Standard Bank Group CEO.
With a client base of 20 million, Standard Bank signalled that growth was driven both in South Africa and Africa regions.
According to the bank, targeted initiatives to grow digital retail transactional clients in South Africa resulted in a 9% increase in digital clients, a 17% increase in digital transactional volumes and an increase in the proportion of transactional clients who transact digitally to 69%.
“Our South African franchises delivered earnings of R13.4 billion, our Africa regions franchise R10.4 billion, our offshore businesses R1.3 billion and the contribution from our 40% stake in ICBC Standard Bank was R1.0 billion, contributing 51%, 40%, 5% and 4%, respectively, to group headline earnings.
“The top eight contributors to Africa regions’ headline earnings were Angola, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda and Zambia.”
Meanwhile, operating expenses increased by 5% to R42.7 billion, as the group continued to fund targeted investment in talent, digital capabilities and key strategic initiatives.
Staff costs increased by 6%, driven by annual salary adjustments, higher performance-linked incentives and continued investment in specialist skills.
The investments, states the bank, support the ongoing enhancement of client propositions, technology capabilities and long-term growth capacity.
The bank adds that technology-related investment remained focused on modernisation, scalability and resilience.
“Software, cloud and technology costs increased by 6%, reflecting contractual service escalations, higher cloud consumption and continued investment in strategic technology programmes that support digital transformation and future growth,” says the firm.
During the presentation, Arno Daehnke, chief finance and value management officer, executive director at Standard Bank Group and Standard Bank South Africa, emphasised the bank’s continued investment in talent, technology, digital solutions and AI.
Daehnke revealed the bank spent R11.8 billion on IT in 1H26, growing from R11.6 billion in total technology-function spend in 1H25.
Further, IT spend has increased at an average compounded rate of approximately 5% a year over the five-year period, he noted.
The bank’s technology-function spend includes areas such as IT staff costs, software, cloud and technology-related costs, amortisation of technology-related intangible assets, as well as depreciation and other technology-related costs.
On IT expenditure, he commented: “We do have a tailwind of declining amortisation charges, as noted in this period. But we are confident that we continue to invest in this very important technology and in the people and specialist skills. That investment continues, and we are ready to compete competitively with the modern technology stack.”
