Absa chief information officer for personal and private banking Thatayaone Matolong explains the strategy behind the bank’s integration of Home Affairs services. Discover why Absa opted for a phased rollout, how a new mobile unit will reach underserved communities and what this milestone means for the future of public-private partnerships.
Integrating a national identity system into an existing banking technology ecosystem is a massive technical undertaking. For Absa, rolling out digital Smart ID applications meant successfully embedding the Department of Home Affairs capabilities into the bank’s own digital channels and branch processes while maintaining strict security and compliance standards.
Absa is the fourth bank to offer the service, joining Capitec, Standard Bank and First National Bank in a digital partnership model that now spans 296 branches nationwide. Twelve Absa branches are already live, with a further 60 scheduled to follow before the end of 2026. The bank is also deploying Bank on the Move, a mobile unit designed to extend secure digital services to rural communities.
Thatayaone unpacks the extensive user acceptance testing behind the phased rollout, the value of observing industry peers and how public and private sector organisations are combining their technology infrastructure to improve citizen outcomes.
How did the collaboration with Home Affairs actually come together on the IT side – was it a long integration process, or did the groundwork from earlier trials with other banks make it quicker for Absa to join?
The partnership benefitted significantly from the groundwork already established through Home Affairs’s broader digital partnership model, which had been proven with other banking partners. For Absa, the focus was less about creating a solution from scratch and more about integrating Home Affairs capabilities into our own digital channels, branch processes and technology ecosystem while maintaining our standards for security, compliance and customer experience. We deliberately adopted a phased approach, including extensive UAT, pilot branches and “friends of the programme” testing, to ensure the solution was operationally robust before national rollout.
What's the early feedback been like from branch staff and customers now that Smart ID applications are part of the everyday banking visit – has it changed foot traffic or how people engage with branches?
Early feedback has been extremely encouraging. Customers value the convenience of accessing government services in a trusted banking environment, while branches have responded positively to the opportunity to provide a more meaningful service beyond traditional banking transactions. We are already seeing strong engagement and expect further engagement with the digital booking and tracking capabilities, and the pilot phase has provided valuable insights that have helped refine processes, communications and the overall customer journey before broader expansion.
Since Capitec, Standard Bank and FNB got there first, were there any useful lessons Absa picked up from how they rolled things out – anything that made Absa’s own rollout smoother?
Absolutely. One of the advantages of entering the programme slightly later is that we were able to observe the evolution of the industry model and incorporate lessons into our own approach. This included placing significant emphasis on colleague training, customer communication, operational readiness and a phased rollout strategy. Rather than prioritising speed alone, our focus has been on ensuring a sustainable and scalable operating model that delivers a consistent customer experience from day one.
The mobile unit sounds like a great way to reach underserved areas. What inspired that idea, and are there plans to learn from it for other mobile banking services down the line?
The “bank on the move” concept was inspired by a simple principle: bringing essential services closer to communities that may not have convenient access to major branch infrastructure. South Africa has many customers who face geographic and transport barriers when accessing government services. The mobile model allows us to extend both banking and identity services into these communities while testing innovative service-delivery approaches. We also see it as a valuable platform for learning how mobile capabilities could support future service offerings beyond Smart IDs.
Passports are already available at limited branches; are there plans to increase this footprint?
Yes. The current focus is on successfully embedding the Smart ID capability and scaling the rollout across additional branches. At the same time, Absa and Home Affairs are assessing the requirements to expand passport-related services. The long-term vision is to broaden the range of government services available through the network, subject to regulatory, operational and technology readiness considerations.
Beyond the Smart ID rollout itself, has this partnership opened up any new thinking internally about how banks and government departments could work together on other shared digital services?
Without question. This partnership demonstrates how public and private sector organisations can combine their respective strengths to improve citizen outcomes. Home Affairs brings the national identity capability, while banks provide trusted infrastructure, technology, distribution networks and customer engagement platforms. The success of this model creates opportunities to explore other citizen-centric services in future, helping to make critical government services more accessible, digital and convenient for South Africans. The broader lesson is that meaningful innovation often happens when organisations collaborate across traditional sector boundaries.
