Banking Hours in South Africa

Visitors to South Africa who need banking services – apart from exchanging money and cashing traveller’s checks (see related post) – will be forced to accommodate themselves to local banks’ Medieval business hours, which are generally as follows:

Weekdays
Open: 8h30 or 9h00 a.m.
Close: 3h30 or 4h00 p.m.

Saturdays
Open: 8h00 or 8h30 a.m.
Close: 11h00 a.m.

Sundays
Closed

The best time to go to a bank is generally about an hour after it’s opened, or, on weekdays, between 2 and 3 p.m. Try to avoid banking on Fridays, especially the last Friday of the month, when the banks are packed, and the sadists who run them are out on the floor rubbing their hands.

For good fun, go to any of the “Big Four” banks’ websites, and search for “branch hours”. SA Blog has a prize for the first person who sends in a URL that will actually deliver opening and closing times for nearby branches. The sites are: ABSA, FNB, Nedbank and Standard.