Standard Bank Spent R22.4-billion On It In 2024

Standard Bank Group on Thursday reported spending this figure on its technology function for the year ended 31 December 2024. This represents a year-on-year increase of 2 from the R21.9-billion it spent in 2023, according to the banking giant's results, published on Thursday.

South Africa's largest banking group by total assets attributed the rise in costs mainly to increases in its cloud computing requirements as well as staff costs.

"Software-, cloud- and technology-related costs increased linked to higher cloud usage required for new features on client platforms, increased processing volumes, increased spend on system stability, infrastructure resilience and security, and contractual increases in dollar-denominated software costs," Standard Bank said in commentary alongside the results.

R12.7-billion of Standard Bank's technology spend went to software, cloud and general technology-related costs. This represents a 3 increase from R12.4-billion the previous year. IT staff costs came to R6.3-billion, up 4 from R6.1-billion in the 2023 financial year.

Like most other banks, Standard Bank's technology spend has been climbing steadily in recent years. The group spent R15.8-billion on technology in 2019, so the increase to R22.4-billion in 2024 represents a compound annual growth rate of 7.