Capitec Bank’s remuneration report for the 2026 financial year has revealed that three executives, including a former one, cost the lender nearly R250 million in remuneration packages. This is an increase of more than R100 000 from the previous year.
It is the norm for executives in the financial sector to earn this much, but at Capitec it is justified given the performance for the period.
Financial results released on Wednesday reveal that the bank continues to grow its customer base, retaining the number one spot as the biggest lender in Africa by active clients and a 25% profit.
Former CEO gets over R100k
According to the remuneration report for 2026, former Capitec CEO Gerrie Fourie received a remuneration package of more than R154 million. He retired on 18 July 2025, making way for Graham Lee.
An executive remuneration package typically combines a guaranteed salary with benefits, short-term incentives and long-term rewards linked to performance. Long-term incentives often include share options, performance shares or other equity-based awards that vest over several years.
Companies may also offer sign-on bonuses, retention incentives and deferred awards. Some retention bonuses are payable at retirement. However, it is unclear if this was the case with Fourie.
For 2026, he received an annual salary of more than R7.4 million, together with benefits worth more than R1 million. What made his remuneration package balloon is his long-term incentives worth more than R145 million.
New Capitec CEO
Lee, who took over as Capitec CEO from 19 July 2025, received a remuneration package of more than R51 million for the year.
The lender noted that long-term incentives “included in the single figure takes into consideration both the delivery on the underlying ROE and HEPS performance measures, and the significant growth in Capitec’s share price from the date of award up to the end of the 2026 financial year”.
It is also worth noting that long-term incentives are typically paid in shares, cash or a combination of both, and usually vest over several years. The lender did not specify how it paid its long-term incentives.
According to the report, since Lee took over as CEO, he received an annual salary of more than R10 million, and benefits worth R123 000. He received short term incentives worth R6 million and long-term incentives worth more than R31 million.
Capitec CFO laughs to the bank
The lender’s CFO Grant Hardy is among the top three highest paid with a remuneration package of more than R43 million. He was appointed CFO in July 2022, succeeding André du Plessis.
Short-term incentives are typically annual performance bonuses paid in cash, based on the achievement of financial and operational targets during the financial year.
According to the remuneration report, Hardy received an annual salary of R10.6 million and benefits worth R119 000. He received short term incentives worth R5.2 million and long-term incentives worth more than R27 million.
Capitec paid the three individuals more than R249 million for 2026, a massive increase from the previous year. For the 2025 financial year, it paid Fourie and Hardy a combined R125 million in packages. Lee had not begun his tenure at the time.
How much do employees earn?
In the remuneration report, Capitec said it has reduced the number of its employees earning below R250 000 per year.
“In 2021, 68.5% of employees earned below R250 000 per annum,” said Capitec. “By 2025, this reduced to just 9.7%.
“The proportion of employees earning between R250 000 and R500 000 has increased from 18.7% in 2021 to 62.9% in 2025.” According to the Companies Act, publicly listed companies are supposed to include how much their lowest and highest paid employees earn in their financial results (something many companies don’t do).
While Capitec did not give the figure of how much its lowest paid employee would earn for 2026, it was found that it offers some employees R180 000 per annum (R15 000 per month), making this the minimum pay. However, it does not describe this amount as “minimum pay” as other banks do.
Bank shooting stars
The audited financial results for the 2026 financial year show that the lender had a strong year as it increased its customer base to 26 million from 25 million in the previous year.
Headline earnings grew to R16.8 million from R13.7 billion in the previous year. Headline earnings are a measure of a company’s core profit that excludes once-off, non-recurring items such as gains or losses from asset sales, to give a clearer view of underlying performance.
The bank’s net income increased to R24.1 billion from R20.2 billion, which was mostly driven by 27% and 48% increases in loan disbursements for Personal Banking and Business Banking, respectively.
Operating profit before tax increased by 25% to R22.1 billion, from R17.7 billion in the prior year. The net asset value (total equity) increased by 17% to R59.5 billion, from R50.9 billion in the prior year.
