By Liesl Peyper.
Standard Bank will extend Department of Home Affairs (DHA) services to 20 additional branches across South Africa in early 2026, following the completion of infrastructure procurement and the start of pilot testing at two locations.
The expansion forms part of the bank’s collaboration with the DHA to make smart ID and passport services more accessible.
Standard Bank has been offering the service at nine branches for nearly 10 years, but new systems under the new partnership model are being tested at the first two pilot branches. A wider rollout will follow once integration and testing are finalised.
Marius le Roux, Standard Bank’s head of client experience for personal and private banking, says the fact that the lender has already secured the infrastructure for 20 new branches shows its earnestness about making the service accessible to more South Africans.
“It’s about convenience, yes, but it’s also about dignity and inclusion,” he says.
The new branches will be strategically located to ensure a mix of metro and rural coverage, prioritising communities where access to DHA services remains limited and where many clients still use green ID books.
A needs analysis is underway to determine the exact branch locations.
Pilot sites
Standard Bank and the DHA are currently in the integration and testing phase to ensure that systems, processes and technologies are fully aligned before the broader rollout.
The pilot sites will help test real-world conditions and identify any refinements needed to optimise the process.
Staff have received specialised training, and the infrastructure supports biometric data capture, secure document handling, and real-time integration with DHA systems.
To gather feedback from users, the bank has launched a “Friends of the Program” initiative, inviting selected clients to test the service and provide input before the full launch.
“The Friends of the Program initiative allows us to gather real-time feedback from real users,” according to Le Roux.
Once the service is live, clients will be able to apply for and collect smart IDs and passports at participating branches.
The process
The DHA will continue to manage appointments, document processing and turnaround times, while the bank facilitates the biometric process and document handover.
Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber commended the partnership, saying it is encouraging to see the commitment of partners in the banking industry.
The collaboration initiative was announced in August this year with Standard Bank, Capitec, and FNB as the first banks to commit to the service.
The service, which will also be introduced to banking apps in time, builds on a decade-long arrangement between the DHA and selected banks, evolving from a branch-only model to a blended physical-and-digital system.