Standard Bank Shari'ah Call Account Review (2026): Rates, Fees and the 50/50 Split

The Standard Bank Shari'ah Personal Call Account is a Mudarabah savings account that opens with R100, gives you access to your money at any time with no penalty, and pays a monthly profit share that Standard Bank quotes at between 1.75% and 7.05% a year depending on your balance band, on indicative rates published from 25 September 2026. It is a sound home for halal call money if you fund it electronically and hold more than R20,000. It is a poor choice for small cash savers, because the lowest band pays 1.75% and a branch cash deposit costs R100 plus R5 per R100. This review covers the rate table, the 50/50 profit split written into the terms, the fees, the Qard fallback that switches your profit off, deposit insurance, tax, the three scholars who certify the account, and how it compares with Absa, FNB, Al Baraka and HBZ.

The account in one table

Standard Bank publishes three documents for this product: the product page with the rate table, the Shari'ah Personal Call Account terms (document PBB04682030, September 2024 version) and the 2026 Savings and Investments pricing guide. Everything in the table below comes from those three sources.

One detail has moved since we logged this account in our registry in August 2026, when the headline was 'up to 6.55%'. The table published from 25 September 2026 raises the top band to 7.05% and restates every band below it, so older comparisons, including our own from August, carry the earlier set.

The indicative profit rates from 25 September 2026

Standard Bank publishes nine balance bands. The page states that the weightage and the profit-sharing ratio have already been built into the indicative figures, so the number you see is the annualised rate you can expect on your balance, not a gross pool return that still has to be split.

The date is not a coincidence. On 23 September 2026 the South African Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee raised the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.25%, effective 25 September, with headline inflation at 4.4%, according to the SARB's September 2026 statement. Standard Bank's new table took effect the same day. A Mudarabah account does not pay interest, and the bank published no reason for the change, but the returns on the Shariah-compliant financing that a deposit pool funds tend to move with the repo rate, and indicative rates follow.

Clause 6.2 of the terms says the rate that applies 'depends on how much money is in your Account at a given time (balance band)'. Read literally, that is a whole-balance band, so crossing from R99,999 to R100,000 lifts the rate on the entire balance from 3.85% to 4.35%. Confirm this with the bank before you plan around it, because the terms do not spell out whether bands are marginal. Clause 6.7 also lets the bank change the indicative rate at its discretion with immediate effect, announced on the website or 'by any other means we see fit'.

What the bands mean in rand

• R50,000 at 3.85% is about R1,925 a year, or roughly R160 a month.
• R100,000 at 4.35% is R4,350 a year, or about R362 a month.
• R250,000 at 5.35% is R13,375 a year, or about R1,115 a month.
• R1,000,000 at 6.45% is R64,500 a year, or R5,375 a month.
• R5,000 at 1.75% is R87.50 a year. A single branch cash deposit of that R5,000 would cost R350 in fees, four years of profit.

These are arithmetic on published indicative rates, not promises. Standard Bank does not publish a history of realised profit rates for this account, so you cannot check how often the indicated figure was actually paid; we explain why that matters in realised versus indicative profit rates.

How the Mudarabah works, and when your account becomes a Qard

The terms define Mudarabah as a contract under which 'you provide capital in the form of a deposit and the Bank provides management and entrepreneurial skill', with the bank investing 'at our discretion in Shari'ah-compliant assets'. Clause 6.4 fixes the split: 'You will receive 50% of the profit and we will receive 50% of the profit.' Profit is calculated on the average daily balance (clause 6.5) and paid monthly, into the account or into another account of your choice (clause 6.6). If the payment date falls on a Sunday or public holiday, it is paid on the next business day. The same 50/50 split applies to the bank's Shari'ah Fixed Deposit, which is the most depositor-friendly stated ratio among South Africa's big-bank Islamic windows; we unpack the arithmetic of 50/50 versus 60/40 splits separately.

The part most savers miss is clause 3.2. To earn profit you must keep at least the minimum amount in the account 'so that the Account will operate as Mudarabah'. Below that, 'it will operate as Qardh and you will not be entitled to profit', Qardh being 'a loan you give to the Bank in the form of a deposit. You do not earn any return.' So the account is a profit-sharing investment when funded and a free loan to the bank when nearly empty, and the switch is automatic. If the balance sits at zero for seven consecutive days, clause 3.1 lets the bank close the account with or without notice.

The capital in your Account is not guaranteed. If we assume any losses using your capital, your capital may be reduced. (Clause 14.1, Shari'ah Personal Call Account Terms and Conditions, Standard Bank, September 2024 version)

Clause 14 is the honest heart of the product. No profit is allocated if Shariah-compliant assets were not obtainable (14.2), funds are returned and the account closed if compliant assets were not available (14.3), and any loss in the pool is confined to the funds you deposited (14.4). Clause 15 appoints the bank to donate any impermissible income that accrues to your account to charities chosen by the Shari'ah Advisory Committee, without asking you first. This is textbook Mudarabah risk allocation, and it is why the account cannot be a guaranteed deposit.

Fees: free to run, expensive to fill with cash

The 2026 pricing guide, effective 1 January 2026 and inclusive of 15% VAT, has a dedicated Shari'ah page. There is no monthly fee and no early redemption fee on the call account. The costs are concentrated in two places: putting physical cash in, and doing anything at a branch.

Two operating rules follow. Clause 5.5 says you 'cannot withdraw money directly from the Account'; you must first transfer it to a transactional account at any bank. Clause 5.6 bars debit orders and stop orders. This is a holding account, not a spending account: fund it and empty it by electronic transfer and the running cost is zero; fund it with cash over a branch counter and the fee on a R5,000 deposit is 7% of the money.

There is also a structural gap. Standard Bank no longer offers an Islamic transactional account to individuals, as we noted in our Standard Bank Shari'ah Banking review, so the account you transfer through will be a conventional one at Standard Bank or an Islamic current account elsewhere. The profit-nomination feature softens this: the monthly profit can be paid straight into an account at another bank, or to a charity, which no other South African call account offers in the same way.

CODI: insured only while it is not earning

The Corporation for Deposit Insurance, a Reserve Bank subsidiary operational since 1 April 2024, covers qualifying depositors up to R100,000 per depositor per bank, according to its frequently asked questions. The Deposit Insurance Regulations gazetted on 22 March 2024 set that limit and exclude 'any product where the principal amount is not repayable at par or is repayable at par only subject to a specific condition or guarantee'.

CODI's March 2026 coverage summary applies that rule product by product. Islamic Wadi'ah, Qard and Murabaha products are covered. The Islamic Mudarabah product is not, because its capital 'is only guaranteed where there is negligence by a bank' and that conditionality 'does not make the capital/principal amount guaranteed at all times'. Standard Bank's terms say the same thing in clause 16: 'Accounts that operate as Qardh are covered by the Corporation for Deposit Insurance (CODI). Accounts that operate as Mudarabah are not covered by the CODI.' Put the two together: your balance is insured only while it is below the minimum and earning nothing. We cover the whole market in Is your Islamic deposit insured?.

Tax: the profit is taxed as interest

Section 24JA of the Income Tax Act deems the return on a Mudarabah deposit to be interest for the purposes of section 24J, which is what makes the product workable without a tax penalty and also means SARS taxes it like any other interest. We explain the mechanics in our guide to Section 24JA. Clause 3.4 of the terms commits the bank to issue an income tax certificate each tax year showing profit accrued and paid, and to share the figures with SARS.

For the 2027 tax year, which runs from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2027, SARS confirmed on 25 February 2026 that the local interest exemption is unchanged at R23,800 for a person under 65 and R34,500 for a person aged 65 or older, per its interest and dividends rates page. Applied to the indicative bands: R400,000 at 5.35% produces R21,400, inside the exemption for an under-65 saver with no other interest. R500,000 at 6.05% produces R30,250, which is R6,450 over the limit and taxed at your marginal rate. Savers near those balances who also hold a conventional money market account, a notice deposit or an Islamic term deposit elsewhere will cross the threshold sooner, because the exemption is per person, not per account.

Who certifies it

Standard Bank's Shari'ah Advisory Committee has three members: Mufti Zaid Haspatel as chairman, Qari Mohamad Sauleh Peck and Mufti Yusuf Suliman. Their 2026 certificate for the Shari'ah Personal Call Account, dated 1 January 2026, states that the committee approves the product 'structured on the principle of Mudarabah', having 'reviewed the required documents, policies and processes'. Among the big-bank Islamic windows, Standard Bank and FNB are the two that post a signed, dated certificate PDF; Absa names its committee but does not post a certificate. The bank's own FAQ page describes the process as scholars testing the product 'end-to-end' before it is marketed as Shariah compliant.

Two of the three also sit on FirstRand's Shari'ah Advisory Committee, which certifies FNB Islamic Banking. That overlap is common in a small market and has an upside: the Mudarabah deposit accounts at South Africa's two largest banking groups have been approved by overlapping scholars applying the same fiqh.

How it compares with other halal call money

Immediate-access halal savings in South Africa come from four banks. The table uses each provider's published terms as recorded in our registry, with the date we verified them. Standard Bank's figures are from 19 October 2026; the others were last verified on 5 August 2026 and may have moved after the September repo increase.

Three things stand out. Absa's headline is higher, but Absa does not state its profit-sharing ratio, so you cannot see how much of the pool return reaches you; our Depositor Plus review goes into that. FNB's account has no minimum and sits inside a full Islamic transactional relationship, which Standard Bank cannot offer individuals. Al Baraka alone publishes realised rates monthly, but its shortest term needs R250,000 and seven days, so it is not call money. For notice accounts too, see our Islamic call and notice accounts comparison.

Our view

This is a good product with a narrow ideal user. If you hold R20,000 or more, move money in and out electronically, want instant access, and value a stated 50/50 split and a signed annual certificate, the Standard Bank Shari'ah Personal Call Account is one of the two or three best places in South Africa to park halal cash. The profit-nomination feature is genuinely useful for anyone who tithes a fixed share of returns or supports a dependant from savings income.

The trade-offs are real. Below R10,000 the 1.75% indicative rate is barely worth the admin, and anyone who deposits cash at a branch will lose more in fees than they earn for years. The rates are indicative with no realised history. The capital is not guaranteed and not CODI-insured while it earns, which is the correct Shariah outcome but a different risk from a conventional savings account. And because Standard Bank has withdrawn its Islamic current account for individuals, the call account is an island. For a saver who already banks Islamically at FNB or Absa, it is worth opening for the split and the certificate alone. For a saver with less than R10,000 in cash, a no-minimum account with a fee-free deposit route will serve better.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Standard Bank Shari'ah Call Account profit rate in 2026?

From 25 September 2026 Standard Bank publishes indicative profit rates of 1.75% a year on balances up to R9,999, rising through 3.85% at R20,000, 4.35% at R100,000, 5.35% at R250,000, 6.05% at R500,000 and 6.45% at R1 million, to 7.05% on R20 million or more. The figures already include the profit-sharing ratio and weightage. They are indicative, so the realised payout can differ, and the bank may change them at any time.

Is the Standard Bank Shari'ah Call Account covered by CODI?

Only while it operates as a Qardh, which is when the balance is below the minimum and earning no profit. Clause 16 of the terms states that accounts operating as Mudarabah are not covered by the Corporation for Deposit Insurance. CODI's March 2026 coverage summary confirms Mudarabah products do not qualify because the capital is not guaranteed at all times. The R100,000 CODI limit therefore does not protect a funded, profit-earning balance.

What is the minimum deposit for the Shari'ah Personal Call Account?

R100. That is both the opening deposit and the minimum balance under clause 3.1 of the terms. If you open online or in the app, the account is only activated once the R100 has landed. If the balance stays at zero for seven consecutive days the bank may close the account, and if it drops below the minimum the account runs as an interest-free Qardh loan to the bank and earns nothing until you top it up.

Can I withdraw cash directly from the Shari'ah Call Account?

No. Clause 5.5 of the terms says you cannot withdraw money directly from the account. You first transfer it, free of charge online or at an ATM, into a transactional account at Standard Bank or any other bank, and withdraw from there. Debit orders and stop orders cannot be loaded against the account either. Transfers out carry no notice period and no early redemption fee.

Is the profit from the Standard Bank Shari'ah Call Account taxable?

Yes. Section 24JA of the Income Tax Act deems Mudarabah returns to be interest, so the profit counts towards your annual local interest exemption, which SARS confirmed in February 2026 stays at R23,800 for people under 65 and R34,500 for people 65 and older for the 2027 tax year. Anything above that is taxed at your marginal rate. Standard Bank issues an annual tax certificate and reports the figures to SARS.

Who approves the Standard Bank Shari'ah Call Account?

Standard Bank's Shari'ah Advisory Committee: Mufti Zaid Haspatel as chairman, Qari Mohamad Sauleh Peck and Mufti Yusuf Suliman. Their certificate dated 1 January 2026, posted on the product page, approves the account as structured on the principle of Mudarabah after reviewing the documents, policies and processes. Standard Bank renews the product-level certificate each January, which is a stronger disclosure than most South African Islamic windows provide.

Sources

• Standard Bank, Shari'ah Call Account product page, rates from 25 September 2026
• Standard Bank, Shari'ah Personal Call Account Terms and Conditions (September 2024)
• Standard Bank, Savings and Investments Pricing Guide 2026 (1 January 2026)
• Standard Bank, Shari'ah Personal Call Account 2026 Certificate (1 January 2026)
• SARB, Statement of the Monetary Policy Committee (23 September 2026)
• CODI, Frequently Asked Questions
• CODI, Summary of coverage and reporting rules (March 2026)
• Government Gazette 50311, Deposit Insurance Regulations (22 March 2024)
• SARS, Interest and Dividends, 2027 tax year exemptions (25 February 2026)