# African Bank

> Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/african-bank
> research date 2026-06-01 · extracted at 2026-10-03
> Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards

Specifications:
- [African Bank — official](https://www.africanbank.co.za/)

## Overview

**African Bank** is **South African commercial bank** + **SARB South African Reserve Bank ~50% + Public Investment Corporation South African pension fund ~25%+ + 6 South African banks consortium controlling post-Aug 2014 curatorship + Apr 4 2016 African Bank Limited restructuring** + **SA commercial bank** <sup>[1][1], [South Africa report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/ZA)</sup>.

## History

**Sep 1975 — African Bank founded in South Africa as consumer finance company**.

**Aug 10 2014 — African Bank curatorship by SARB South African Reserve Bank post-financial distress**.

**Apr 4 2016 — African Bank Limited restructuring + new African Bank Limited launched as restored commercial bank**.

**2014 — African Bank mobile banking app launch**.

## Ownership & operator

**Operating entity**: **African Bank Limited** (South African commercial bank; SARB + PIC + 6 SA banks consortium controlling).

**Major shareholders**: **SARB South African Reserve Bank ~50% + Public Investment Corporation South African pension fund ~25%+ + 6 South African banks consortium (Standard Bank + FirstRand + ABSA + Nedbank + Investec + Capitec)**.

**Regulators**: **SARB South African Reserve Bank + Prudential Authority**.

## Technical integration

African Bank mobile app (iOS + Android) + africanbank.co.za online + African Bank branch network across South Africa + African Bank Visa + Mastercard cards; ZA IBAN + ZA PayShap (South African P2P + retail real-time payment scheme) + ZA EFT.

## Implementations & partners

**Major South African banking + payments competitors**: [Standard Bank](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/standard-bank) (Standard Bank South Africa; JSE: SBK; Africa's largest banking group by assets) + [FNB Banking App (First National Bank)](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/fnb-app) (FNB South Africa; FirstRand Group; South Africa's largest banking group + 12M+ customers + eWallet pioneer) + [Absa Bank](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/absa) (Absa Group South Africa; JSE: ABG; South Africa's #3 commercial bank by assets) + [Capitec Bank](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/capitec) (Capitec Bank; JSE: CPI; South Africa's largest commercial bank by customers) + [Nedbank (Nedbank Money app)](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/nedbank) (Nedbank Group; JSE: NED; South African commercial bank) + [Discovery Bank](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/discovery-bank) (Discovery Bank; Discovery Limited Group; South African digital + behavioural bank) + [Investec Bank](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/investec) (Investec Bank; JSE: INL + LSE: INVP; South African + UK private wealth management + specialist commercial bank) + [TymeBank](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/tymebank) (TymeBank South African digital bank; ~10M+ South African TymeBank customers) + [Bidvest Bank](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/bidvest-bank) (Bidvest Bank; Bidvest Group; South African commercial bank) + [Old Mutual Bank](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/old-mutual) (Old Mutual Bank South Africa; Old Mutual JSE: OMU subsidiary) + [MTN Mobile Money](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/mtn-mobile-money) (MTN MoMo South African mobile money; ~75M+ MTN MoMo users across 16 African countries).

**Regulators**: SARB South African Reserve Bank + Prudential Authority.

## Status

**Active, South African commercial bank + SARB South African Reserve Bank ~50% + Public Investment Corporation South African pension fund ~25%+ + 6 South African banks consortium controlling post-Aug 2014 curatorship + Apr 4 2016 African Bank Limited restructuring** <sup>[1][1], [2][2]</sup>.

## Sources

[1]: https://www.africanbank.co.za/ "African Bank — official"
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Bank "African Bank — Wikipedia"
[za-cro]: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/ZA

- [1] [African Bank — official][1]
- [2] [African Bank — Wikipedia][2]
- <sup>[South Africa report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/ZA)</sup> In-corpus: `reports/countries/ZA-south-africa.md`

## Source

Biography extracted from [african-bank.md](https://docs.barcoder.ai/source/wallets/african-bank). See `matrix.md` for standards-support matrix if present.