Banking

The Northern Cape is well served by all of South Africa’s major financial institutions.

The Northern Cape’s urban centres enjoy excellent banking and financial services, on par with all other city centres in South Africa. The four major banks are well represented in the province, with branches in most major towns and cities and extensive ATM networks reaching far into the rural areas. Retail bank Capitec Bank has a large number of branches in the province (13 in all), including in the small town of Hartswater.

Focusing on the newly banked and on a largely rural province like the Northern Cape has paid dividends for Capitec. In March 2010, the bank announced a profit for the year to February of R435-million, an increase of 45% over the previous year’s results. With the number of people banking with Capitec also increasing by a significant amount, 37% to 2.1-million, it is clear that Capitec’s foray into retail banking, after initially concentrating on small loans, is reaping rewards. Capitec opened 38 new branches in 2009 and 50 more are planned for 2010.

Cellphone- and Internet-banking services are increasingly being rolled out to South Africa’s previously unbanked population. Competition is stiff in developing new strategies to incorporate the emerging second economy and the still rural, ‘unbanked’ communities. In 2008, FNB invested R55-million in 500 new ATMs around South Africa, in both rural and urban areas. These additions expand FNB’s ATM network to 5 400 machines, servicing a customer base of more than six million people across the country.

Several banks have embarked on public-private partnerships with the Northern Cape Provincial Government. Preferential mining procurement is the subject of a collaboration with Standard Bank, Absa Bank is working with the government on the promotion of strategies to develop small, medium and micro-enterprises, and the Development Bank of Southern Africa is assisting in developing a local economic development strategy.

Absa’s national initiative to support small businesses in conjunction with national government, the SME Fund, was unveiled in 2010. National funding is in the amount of R267.5-million with six of the country’s provinces having access to the financing to support entrepreneurs who would otherwise not have funding.

The fund is driven by the Small Business division of Absa and is targeted at companies that are 100% black owned, need bridging finance to execute government tenders and do not have the amount of security normally required to support an application for finance.

Banks in the Northern Cape are active in conservation and social upliftment. TheNedbank Capital Green Mining Award is a highly regarded trophy. The Nedbank Sports Trust has seen to it that the Herbie Rose Indoor Cricket Centre in Kimberley, used also for functions and meetings, has been upgraded. FNB, as anOfficial Supporter of the FIFA 2010 World Cup South Africa™, is partnering with various cities and regions across South Africa on football and non-football related programmes. Kimberley will receive an artificial pitch as part of the 2010 Legacy Programme.

Absa supports cultural events such as the Gariep Festival and the Namaqualand Arts Festival and offers support to feeding schemes for street children in the province, in particular the children of Platfontein. Absa staff are engaged in renovating and maintaining a pre-primary school in Vergenoeg/Galeshewe.

Standard Bank supports more than one educational project in the Northern Cape. The bank guaranteed funding for an initial period of three years for the Kuruman office of the Maths Centre, an initiative that promotes excellence in the teaching of mathematics and science and promotes entrepreneurship. The centre has had an impact on 25 000 pupils and 771 teachers at 43 schools.

The Standard Bank High School Project supports teachers in 10 primary schools and 10 high schools. The focus is on the teaching of mathematics, physical science and chemistry and selected teachers are sent on courses to Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth.