New smart ID card and passport bank branches launching soon

More bank branches in South Africa will be adding support for smart ID cards and passport renewals via the eHomeAffairs service in 2025.

MyBroadband has learnt that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) expects to make an announcement regarding its Private-Public Partnerships (PPPs) with major banks that will facilitate the expansion before the end of November 2024.

According to a source close to the matter, the first new branches to go live with the service under the PPPs are likely to be activated in 2025.

The bank-supported eHomeAffairs service was first launched in 2015 and has proven highly popular for being far more convenient and faster than visiting the typical Home Affairs office.

The facility allows banked smart ID card applicants and passport renewers to complete their applications on a website, make payments online, and reserve a booking slot for biometrics and digital signing at their preferred branch.

The documents are typically ready for collection at the same branch within two weeks.

Technically speaking, however, the eHomeAffairs service is still only in its pilot phase, made possible through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the DHA and participating banks.

The MoU has been repeatedly extended over the past eight years as the department and banks have had drawn-out discussions on PPPs to make the initiative permanent.

The 30 bank branches where eHomeAffairs services are available currently only provide the physical space for applicants to queue and DHA employees to render the service.

Bank employees can assist with customer queries and managing queueing but cannot handle applications, biometrics processing, or collections.

With the PPPs in place, banks will be able to support the service with their own personnel and infrastructure.

The PPPs have been a long time coming. Formal discussions facilitated by the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA) on behalf of participating banks began over three years ago.

BASA prudential head Mark Brits previously told MyBroadband that the agreements were close to finalisation in late September 2024.

Brits said all that remained was fine-combing the agreements to ensure they were legally sound.

Legal process nearly complete — Major banks

In feedback to MyBroadband in mid-November 2024, BASA said the legal review of the master PPP agreement and several annexures were awaiting final approval by the DHA.

“Once the contracts are signed, the transition to the more modern, web-based offering of the DHA
will begin,” BASA said.

“During the transition phase, new equipment, software licenses, and trained personnel will
be needed.

Several of the banks also told MyBroadband that the legal process was now at an advanced stage.

Nedbank told MyBroadband it was encouraged by the significant progress made by the legal committee in reviewing and updating the clauses in the legal contracts.

“Nedbank supports the committee’s work and appreciates the diligence applied by the team with respect to the review of the contracts,” the bank said.

Nedbank explained that certain legal aspects required input and ratification from other functional teams.

“All parties have made significant progress in diligently reviewing and finalising the agreement, including the supporting annexures,” Nedbank said.

“There is intense focus and commitment from all parties to urgently conclude the review of legal contracts, enabling us to commence scaling this service offering.”

FNB also said the PPP process was in its final legal stages.

“We are working hard with the department alongside other member banks to finalise agreements as soon as possible,” FNB said.

“There have been many processes that needed to be finalised with key stakeholders, collectively, we have made significant progress, and we see ourselves finalising this step soon.”

Discovery Bank said there was “great progress” in finalising the PPP.

“This is part of an industry-wide process led by the DHA, and we believe we are now in the final stages of completion,” the bank said.

According to previous feedback from the banks, their rollout plans include at least another 34 branches in the near future.

FNB and Absa plan to add the majority of these branches — with 18 and 12 additions — respectively.

Discovery Bank also plans to add branches in Pretoria, Cape Town, and KwaZulu-Natal.

BASA said it expects more banks to provide the eHomeAffairs services as the legal process is finalised.

The table below summarises how the number of branches could expand based on the participating banks’ early rollout strategies.