New book 'Boland Bankers Behaving Badly' challenges myth of Capitec Bank

Cape Talk's Clarence Ford chats to Jaegur Martin, a former financial analyst and author
of Boland Bankers Behaving Badly - The Other Unofficial Story of Capitec Bank.

Listen to their conversation in the audio clip below:

In the book Boland Bankers Behaving Badly - The Other Unofficial Story of Capitec Bank, Martin dives deep into what he describes as the lesser-known history of Capitec Bank and its controversial beginnings. 

Far from the polished PR narrative often told, Martin alleges the bank’s early years were marred by creative accounting, opaque leadership incentives, and a corporate culture that prioritised profit over transparency.

"These directors have always been incentivised to see a higher share price... they actually receive hundreds of millions of rands for the share price outperforming."

- Jaegur Martin, author - Boland Bankers Behaving Badly

Martin traces the roots of these issues back to the collapse of Boland Bank, which he claims was fuelled by reckless leadership and dubious financial practices. 

He argues that some of these patterns repeated themselves in Capitec Bank’s rise. 

“The very first financial director of Capitec helped inject R3.5 million to turn the maiden results from a loss into a profit. The very next day, that was reversed..."

- Jaegur Martin, author - Boland Bankers Behaving Badly

The book questions how such red flags were overlooked, especially in the wake of the damning, and largely dismissed, Viceroy Research report.

While Martin acknowledges Capitec Bank’s undeniable success in reaching underserved banking customers, he warns that the bank’s elevated share price and foreign lending moves could signal trouble ahead. 

"It’s priced for perfection... and if something goes wrong, you’re going to see a serious correction.”

- Jaegur Martin, author - Boland Bankers Behaving Badly

Scroll up to listen to the full conversation.