FNB said the value of transactions made with its virtual cards rose by 47% over the last year. Other South African banks have also reported strong growth in digital wallets and virtual cards in 2026, MyBroadband reported.
These tools let people pay for goods without carrying a physical bank card. FNB said its digital transactions grew by 7% year on year, while transaction volumes on its banking app grew by 10%.
“We are seeing digital payment solutions move from being an alternative payment method to becoming embedded in customers’ everyday transaction habits,” FNB Head of Digital Payments Jason Viljoen said.
FNB Private Everyday Banking managing executive Philani Potwana said virtual cards had become a cornerstone of digital payments. He said this was because they are convenient, safer and give customers more control.
“Unlike physical cards, FNB virtual cards can only be directly accessed within the FNB Banking App and feature a dynamic card verification value (CVV) that changes regularly,” the bank said.
The bank said this adds protection for online shopping and lowers the risk if card details are stolen.
According to MyBroadband, the changing CVV only helps with once-off online payments. Recurring online payments and in-store payments made with digital wallets do not use the feature.
FNB has pushed customers to use digital wallets and virtual cards since it launched them, including by offering more eBucks rewards. The rewards linked only to digital wallets have ended. Customers now earn eBucks at much higher rates when they use virtual cards for groceries, fuel and other purchases at partner stores.
Capitec’s interim results showed strong growth in digital wallets, which users can link to a physical or digital bank card. The number of Apple Pay, Garmin Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay users at Capitec grew by 68% to 2.4 million. This was up from 1.4 million in the same period in 2025.
Spending through digital wallets at Capitec rose by 87% to R52.1 billion, up from R27.8 billion a year earlier. The number of transactions rose by 66%, from 157 million to 260 million.
Absa, Nedbank and Standard Bank have also reported large growth in digital wallet values and volumes.
In Nedbank’s financial year ending 31 December 2025, customers’ digital wallet spending grew by 71%. It reached 22% of total card spending, up from 13% in 2024.
Standard Bank customers spent 56% more through digital wallets in the first three months of 2026 than in the same period in 2025.
At Discovery Bank, more than 50% of card transaction values in 2025 went through a digital wallet or virtual card. For in-store payments only, the figure was 30%.
In Discovery Bank’s SpendTrend26 survey, 85% of people said they held a virtual card. A total of 73% said they actively used one.
During the 2025 Black Friday period, about 66% of in-store card payments by Discovery Bank customers were made with digital wallets. A third of their online shopping spending went through virtual cards.
Source: this article is based on reporting by MyBroadband. Image: MyBroadband. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Business desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Anelisa Nkuna covers business and money news for Tzaneen Voice. Anelisa reports on the rand, fuel prices, interest rates, jobs, Eskom, Transnet, farming and company results. The aim is simple: explain what the numbers mean for household budgets, small businesses and workers in South Africa.