
Looking for the best bank to keep your money? With so many banks in South Africa that offer multiple savings accounts each, it can be extremely confusing.
I know because I’m in the process of finding the best savings bank account myself. I was astounded by the lack of information online so I thought I better record my research.
To make life a bit easier for you, below you’ll find a breakdown of the best interest rates on the different savings accounts I came across within South Africa. Hope this helps!
Bank: | Account Type: | Interest Rate: | Minimum Deposit: | View Options: |
African Bank | Fixed deposit account | 5.5% – 10.01% | – | VIEW |
African Bank | MyWorld Savings Account | 4.25% | R0 | VIEW |
Tyme Bank | GoalSave | 4% – 6% | R10,000 | VIEW |
Capitec | Fixed Savings Account | 4.59 % – 7.76% | R10,000 | VIEW |
First National Bank | Savings Account | 3% – 7.8% | R0 | VIEW |
Nedbank | Savings Account | 2.75% – 7.51% | R0 | VIEW |
Capitec | Global One Savings Account | 2.25% | R0 | VIEW |
Standard Bank | Savings Account | 1.35% – 6.42% | R0 | VIEW |
ABSA Bank | Savings Account | 0% – 6.75% | R0 | VIEW |
BONUS CONTENT: Looking for an investment in South Africa with the best return? View my 10 best investments in South Africa for beginners here.
01. African Bank Fixed Deposit Account (5.5% to 10.01%)
African Bank fixed deposit account tops the list! Their interest rates start out at 5.5% interest for the first 3 months and can be increased to as much as 10.1% interest the longer you hold your money, which is outstanding.
Here’s a full break down:
Term: | Annual Fixed Rate Interest: |
3 Months | 5.50% |
6 Months | 6.00% |
12 Months | 7.00% |
24 Months | 7.75% |
60 Months | 10.01% |
What’s really great about this savings account is that it’s fixed rate, which means as long as you keep your money in the account, the interest rate is guaranteed for the investment period selected. The interest won’t fluctuate.
SIDE NOTE: As discussed in this quora post, only the best investors in the world achieve a 10% return on their investment in the long term. So finding a bank that offers 10% interest on your money is truly special.
02. African Bank MyWorld Savings Account (4.25%)
MyWorld is an everyday savings account that offers some of the best interest rates at 4.25%. This might not sound like much however you don’t even need to have a minimum deposit in your account. As long as you have some money in your account you’ll be entitled to the 4.25% per annum.
To put this into perspective, for a similar ABSA savings account you’ll only get around 1.55% per annum.
03. Tyme Bank GoalSave (4% to 6%)
The GoalSave account isn’t exactly your typical everyday savings account, however, if you want to deposit your money and hold it in the account it might be a good option.
They offer the best interest rate at 4% interest per annum from 1-30 days after the money has been added to your account. This increases the longer you hold your money to us much as 6% interest.
Here’s a table with more details:
Days after money is added: | Annual interest rate: |
1 – 30 | 4% |
31 – 90 | 5% |
91+ | 6% |
They do offer a bonus of 7% if you give the bank 10 days notice before withdrawing your investment after the 90 day period. As far as I understand you’ll only receive 7% on that 10 day notice period, which is a bit of a disappointment.
Unfortunately, your maximum initial investment is capped at R10,000 however you can own a maximum of 10 of these accounts, which means you can invest a maximum of R100,000 in total.
04. Capitec Global One account Fixed Term Savings Plan (4.59 % to 7.76%)
The fixed-term savings account offers you the opportunity to earn an interest rate of up to 7.76%. Keep in mind that you’ll need to make a minimum deposit of R10,000 and the minimum period you can keep your money in the account for is 6 months. So it’s not exactly your everyday savings account.
Here’s a table that will explain the effective interest rate you can earn in more details:
Term (Months) | R10 000 – R24 999 | R25 000 – R99 999 | R100 000+ |
6 | 4.59% | 4.85% | 5.12% |
7 – 9 | 4.85% | 5.12% | 5.22% |
10 – 12 | 5.12% | 5.22% | 5.33% |
13 – 18 | 5.38% | 5.54% | 5.64% |
19 – 24 | 5.43% | 6.01% | 6.17% |
25 – 36 | 5.85% | 6.38% | 6.43% |
37 – 48 | 6.17% | 6.49% | 6.59% |
49 – 60 | 7.23% | 7.66% | 7.76% |
NOTE: During your research, you might come across “Nominal” or “Effective” interest rates. Nominal interest rates don’t take into account the compounding effect of the interest you earn.
On the other hand, effective interest rates do consider the compounding effect. This makes the “Effective interest rate” a lot more accurate because it shows the total interest you’ll earn for a given period.
05. FNB (3% to 7.8%)
FNB has a high initial interest rate of 3.05% on a low deposit, and max out at around 7.8% interest rate for investments of R10,000 plus, which isn’t bad considering what other banks have been offering. The amount of interest you earn obviously depends on the account you choose, so let’s quickly run through the options you have.
Account: | Minimum Deposit: | Interest Rate: |
Any FNB Savings Account | 0 | 3.05% |
FNB 7 Day Notice | R20,000 | 3.40% |
FNB Flexi Fixed Deposit | R5,000 | 3.60% |
FNB 32 day Flexi Notice | R5,000 | 3.70% |
FNB Money Maximiser | R100,000 | 4.60% |
Restart Fixed Deposit | R10,000 | 6.20% |
Fixed Deposit | R10,000 | 7.80% |
06. Nedbank (2.75% to 7.51%)
Nedbank offers a wide range of flexible and fixed-term savings accounts that ranges their interest rates depending on how much money you have, and how long you keep it in your account.
That said there’s way too much information to fit it all in this article. You can either view it all on the Nedbank’s website here or if you want a snapshot I’ll summarize some of the highest interest yielding savings accounts in the table below.
Account: | Minimum Deposit: | Nominal Interest Rate: |
Nedbank MyPocket Savings Account | 0 | 3.00% |
Nedbank 32-day Notice Account | 0 | 2.75% to 4.3% |
Nedbank Tax-Free Fixed Deposit Account | R1,000 | 3.8% to 4.3% |
Nedbank Money Trader | R50,000 | 3.5% |
Electronic Fixed Deposit (For 55 years of age) | R1,000 | 3.5% to 7.15% |
Electronic Fixed Deposit (For below 55 years of age) | R5,000 | 3.25% to 7.04% |
Electronic OptimumPlus | R1,000 | 3.55% to 7.51% |
07. Capitec Global One Savings Account (2.25%)
This account is more of your every day account that doesn’t require an initial deposit. The biggest drawback is, you can only earn 2.25% interest per annum if you have less than R100,000 in the account.
And if you have more than R100,000 things don’t get much better. Your interest rate crawls up from 2.25% to only 2.5%. I mean why did they even bother?
08. Standard Bank (1.35% to 6.42%)
Standard bank also has a big variety of savings account options. They offer interest rates from as low as 1.35% to as high as 6.42% depending on the account you choose, how much you deposit, and how quickly you would like access to that money.
They even have 4 “accessibility” options so make sure you check out the bank’s website here to get a detailed description of each. Or, if you prefer a summary I’ll also lay out a summary in the table below.
Account: | Minimum Deposit: | Interest Rate: |
PureSave savings account | R50 | 1.35% |
Society Scheme savings account | R100 | 2.15% |
MarketLink investment account | R1,000 | 2.50% |
ContractSave savings account | R100 | 3.00% |
MoneyMarket Call investment account | R20,000 | 3.30% |
Tax-Free Call investment account | R250 | 3.50% |
MoneyMarket Select investment account | R250,000 | 4.20% |
Notice Deposit investment account | R250 | 4.25% |
Shari’ah fixed deposit investment account | R2,000 | 6.20% |
Flexi Advantage investment account | R1,000 | 6.40% |
Fixed Deposit investment account | R1,000 | 6.42% |
09. ABSA Bank (0% to 6.75%)
Absa interest rates for savings account ranges from 0.00% to 0.45% which is extremely poop. I highly suggest you rather look into their dynamic fixed deposit account if you do decide to go with ABSA because it’s a lot higher.
Dynamic fixed deposit accounts offer interest rates between 3.75% to 6.75% which is a lot higher than your everyday savings account.
If you would like to view more options with in-depth details on ABSA’s website, then visit this link. I’ll also include a summary in the table below of options that stood out to me if you would like more of a summary of what ABSA has to offer.
Account: | Minimum Deposit: | Interest Rate: |
ABSA instant access every day accounts | 0 | 0% to 1.55% |
ABSA savings plans | 0 | 1.05% to 2.55% |
ABSA 12 months fixed deposit accounts | 0 | 3.8% to 4.3% |
ABSA dynamic fixed deposit account | R1,000 | 3.75% to 6.75% |
Final Thoughts
Interest rates change all the time so please don’t be surprised if the information I mentioned in this article doesn’t exactly match up to what you’re seeing. That said, this article should give you a general idea of which banks offer the best savings accounts in South Africa.
I hope this information saves you a few hours of research. I know I wish I had it when I was researching my savings account.
YOUR TURN: Did we miss a bank? Or did we miss any info? Please let us know in the comments below so we can start learning from each other.
READ MORE ABOUT BANK ACCOUNTS:
- 5 Best bank accounts for pensioners or 55 and older here.
- 7 Best bank accounts for children or anyone under 18 here.
- 9 Best bank accounts for low-income earners here.
BONUS CONTENT:
- Looking for an investment in South Africa with the best return? View my 10 best investments in South Africa for beginners here.
- Looking for ways to make money online as a beginner? Here’s my free guide that shares 14 free ways to make money online in South Africa with very little experience and without spending a lot of money.
Thank you, the information was very helpful
Only a pleasure bud!
Thank You for the summary! Was dreading having to search for each bank and checking interest rates.
Its a pleasure!
I can see you have mentioned all the banks except MUTUAL bank
Thanks for that recommendation. Do you know what interest rate Mutual bank offers?
Wow wow thank you so much its so clear and straightforward i really appreciated this Information.
you did not mention Finbond ??
What bank will you recommend for opening a bank account for children?
Great question, just wrote this article that covers best bank account for children in South Africa here >> https://financebriefly.com/best-bank-accounts-child-baby-south-africa/ hope this helps!
Thank you
Africa an Bank had financial issues a few years ago, is it correct that a ZA bank going under has client protect is the Reserve Bank
Cause 10% return at African Bank is really good if there’s no risk
Great article Thanks.
Can one really trust that ones Interest and Capital will be Guarenteed for the term investment with African bank? Its been in trouble before and nowhere do I find the wording that Capital at end of term is Guarenteed? Ive written to them re this but perhaops Ive missed something and you can help please?
Can you email me your views pse.
Pleasure Peter! And valid point. I don’t have enough expertise in the banking industry to answer that question. However, what I can say is that for 2020, customer survey data by Consulta showed that African Bank is the second-best bank according to customers in South Africa. So hopefully that counts for something with regards to the legitimacy of the investment promise?!
Which bank best to invest 55 over
Just wrote this article that shares the best banks in South Africa for age 55 and over… https://financebriefly.com/best-bank-account-for-pensioners-in-south-africa/ hope this helps!
You should put a date at the top of your very good article.
Appreciate it bud! And good point.
Thank you
Thanks for information
Only a pleasure!
I would like to know which is the bank that pays the highest interest for investments.