--- title: AI spreads at Standard Bank, but the tech bill barely budges description: Standard Bank Group's banking technology costs rose just 2% to R11.83-billion for the six months to 30 June, but this figure masks a 6% increase in software,... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/ai-spreads-at-standard-bank-but-the-tech-bill-barely-budges-xp2hjedwx twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: AI spreads at Standard Bank, but the tech bill barely budges | daily.dev og:description: Standard Bank Group's banking technology costs rose just 2% to R11.83-billion for the six months to 30 June, but this figure masks a 6% increase in software,... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/ai-spreads-at-standard-bank-but-the-tech-bill-barely-budges-xp2hjedwx og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Xp2HjEdwX.png og:image:alt: AI spreads at Standard Bank, but the tech bill barely budges og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # AI spreads at Standard Bank, but the tech bill barely budges **[TechCentral](https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral)** · 4 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Standard Bank Group's banking technology costs rose just 2% to R11.83-billion for the six months to 30 June, but this figure masks a 6% increase in software, cloud and technology costs (to R7.16-billion) offset by a 26% drop in amortisation. Some 72% of employees actively use generative AI tools across 87 approved use cases, and 78% of migratable compute now runs in the cloud. The AI expansion appears funded through cost optimisation elsewhere rather than new spending, consistent with the bank's 'save to invest' strategy. Despite rising digital transaction volumes, the bank added branches rather than closing them, and capital expenditure and intangible assets both declined, raising questions about whether the software estate is being replenished as fast as it's amortised. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How much did Standard Bank's technology spending actually increase when accounting distortions are stripped out? Software, cloud and technology-related costs rose 6% to R7.16-billion in the six months to 30 June, while technology staff costs rose 3% to R3.36-billion, for a combined 5% increase to R10.52-billion. The headline technology cost figure of R11.83-billion appeared to grow only 2% because amortisation of intangible assets fell 26% to R835-million and depreciation fell 2% to R482-million, masking the underlying spending increase. _Track how banks disclose AI and cloud spending trends by following infrastructure cost analysis on daily.dev._ ### What percentage of Standard Bank employees are using generative AI tools? 72% of Standard Bank employees were active users of generative AI tools as of 30 June, with 87 approved use cases across the organization. AI-enabled recommendation capabilities supported more than 10 million personalised client interactions during the period, and the bank ranked as the leading bank in Africa in the inaugural Evident AI Index for Banks covering the Middle East and Africa region. _Developers evaluating enterprise AI adoption benchmarks can find comparable case studies on daily.dev._ ### How does Standard Bank's IT spending compare to Absa's technology budget? Standard Bank spent R23.5-billion on technology in its full-year 2025 figures, remaining the biggest technology spender in South African banking, compared to R16.7-billion spent by Absa including staff costs for the year to December 2025. Standard Bank's capitalised software trends also echo questions raised by Absa's R2.4-billion software write-off disclosed in March. _Compare enterprise IT budget trends across financial institutions on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Inside Standard Bank’s multi-model AI bet](https://daily.dev/posts/inside-standard-bank-s-multi-model-ai-bet-tl6ruzaqg) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Banks top AI spending as telcos struggle to show returns](https://daily.dev/posts/banks-top-ai-spending-as-telcos-struggle-to-show-returns-j9upyvph5) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Standard Bank IT bill tops R14-billion as software spending shifts](https://daily.dev/posts/standard-bank-it-bill-tops-r14-billion-as-software-spending-shifts-hmtt3twau) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [SA banks race to scale AI and cloud as challenger threat intensifies](https://daily.dev/posts/sa-banks-race-to-scale-ai-and-cloud-as-challenger-threat-intensifies-smudglei8) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Starling Bank cuts 130 jobs in AI and restructuring push](https://daily.dev/posts/starling-bank-cuts-130-jobs-in-ai-and-restructuring-push-khb7fpnyx) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#cloud](https://daily.dev/tags/cloud), [#genai](https://daily.dev/tags/genai), [#fintech](https://daily.dev/tags/fintech) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/ai-spreads-at-standard-bank-but-the-tech-bill-barely-budges-xp2hjedwx) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"AI spreads at Standard Bank, but the tech bill barely budges","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-spreads-at-standard-bank-but-the-tech-bill-barely-budges-xp2hjedwx","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-spreads-at-standard-bank-but-the-tech-bill-barely-budges-xp2hjedwx"},"datePublished":"2026-08-13T06:56:51.746Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T20:33:58.453Z","description":"Standard Bank Group's banking technology costs rose just 2% to R11.83-billion for the six months to 30 June, but this figure masks a 6% increase in software,...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/beb5b8a9c27830352d3bf75ba7226517?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/beb5b8a9c27830352d3bf75ba7226517?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"TechCentral","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"TechCentral","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--RsqLDZrL--/f_auto/v1717745297/logos/techcentral","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-spreads-at-standard-bank-but-the-tech-bill-barely-budges-xp2hjedwx","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"cloud,genai,fintech","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"TechCentral","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/techcentral"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"AI spreads at Standard Bank, but the tech bill barely budges"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/ai-spreads-at-standard-bank-but-the-tech-bill-barely-budges-xp2hjedwx#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How much did Standard Bank's technology spending actually increase when accounting distortions are stripped out?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Software, cloud and technology-related costs rose 6% to R7.16-billion in the six months to 30 June, while technology staff costs rose 3% to R3.36-billion, for a combined 5% increase to R10.52-billion. The headline technology cost figure of R11.83-billion appeared to grow only 2% because amortisation of intangible assets fell 26% to R835-million and depreciation fell 2% to R482-million, masking the underlying spending increase. Track how banks disclose AI and cloud spending trends by following infrastructure cost analysis on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What percentage of Standard Bank employees are using generative AI tools?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"72% of Standard Bank employees were active users of generative AI tools as of 30 June, with 87 approved use cases across the organization. AI-enabled recommendation capabilities supported more than 10 million personalised client interactions during the period, and the bank ranked as the leading bank in Africa in the inaugural Evident AI Index for Banks covering the Middle East and Africa region. Developers evaluating enterprise AI adoption benchmarks can find comparable case studies on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"How does Standard Bank's IT spending compare to Absa's technology budget?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Standard Bank spent R23.5-billion on technology in its full-year 2025 figures, remaining the biggest technology spender in South African banking, compared to R16.7-billion spent by Absa including staff costs for the year to December 2025. Standard Bank's capitalised software trends also echo questions raised by Absa's R2.4-billion software write-off disclosed in March. Compare enterprise IT budget trends across financial institutions on daily.dev."}}]} ```