Standard Bank reports record earnings, increases client base

The Standard Bank Group has announced strong results for its 2025 financial year.

Headline earnings were up 11% to R 49.2 billion for the 12 months to end-December 2025.

Headline earnings per share (HEPS) rose 12% to 3,026 cents or R30.26 per share.

Standard Bank improved return on equity (ROE) to 19.3%, underpinned by the group's diversified and growing franchise, said CEO Sim Tshabalala.

A final gross cash dividend was declared of 878 cents per ordinary share, taking total shareholder distribution for the year to 1 695 cents per share - a 12% increase year-on-year.

The group said its banking businesses delivered a strong performance driven by solid balance sheet growth and robust growth in fees and trading revenues.

Standard Bank's active client base grew by 3.3% to 19.6 million during the 2025 financial year, driven by growth in both South Africa and its Africa Regions.

In SA, targeted initiatives resulted in a 9% increase in digital clients, a 5% increase in digital transactional volumes, and an increase in the proportion of transactional clients who transact digitally to 67%.

Talking to Stephen Grootes, Tshabalala says the bank achieved this increase by continuing to do "the basics" in focusing on client experience.

"We continued to make our clients happy so that they hold more products with us, they use more of our cards, make more payments with us, borrow more from us, they buy more insurance from us, and so forth."

That being said, Grootes asks the Group CEO why their personal and private banking units increased earnings by just around 3%.

Here, Tshabalala highlights that the number for South Africa is actually around 10%, and the overall downward trend was as a result of challenges they had in a couple of other African countries, particularly Botswana.

All in all, he says, the personal and private banking business is doing really well.

Standard Bank says that while geopolitical developments in the Middle East continue to introduce uncertainty, the group expects banking revenue growth to be mid-to-high single digits in its 2026 financial year, supported by ongoing business momentum.

Scroll up to the audio player to hear more from Standard Bank Group CEO Sim Tshabalala