<\/p>\n
The fight for banking customers in Africa\u2019s biggest economy is set to heat up even further as the continent\u2019s biggest insurer prepares to venture into the space by the first quarter of 2027.<\/p>\n
Sanlam Ltd says it has received approval from regulators, clearing the way for the Cape Town-based company to roll out transactional banking services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know from all the work we\u2019ve done that we can save our own customers a huge amount of fees \u2013 we can give them much better rates, and deposit rates,\u201d chief executive officer Paul Hanratty said in an interview Thursday.<\/p>\n
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Sanlam rival Old Mutual Ltd began its bank in 2025 and has already amassed 742 000 customers by June. It\u2019s on track to reach one million by the end of August and\u00a0break even\u00a0by 2028.<\/p>\n
Discovery Ltd, meanwhile, started its lender in 2019, with the operation posting its first\u00a0full-year profit\u00a0in the 12 months ended June.<\/p>\n
Unlike its peers, Sanlam is not building the bank itself.<\/p>\n
It will instead leverage an agreement with GoTyme Bank, a digital lender backed by billionaire Patrice Motsepe, to distribute take deposits, provide unsecured personal loans as well as life cover as soon as next year.<\/p>\n
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GoTyme \u201cis doing what we regard as banking business, and we are doing the distribution of the banking products to our customers,\u201d Hanratty said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut there is a profit share involved, and so getting the regulators comfortable that actually we\u2019re not doing the work of a bank is quite critical.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lender is beta-testing the offering with friends and family and plans to open this further to some customers and intermediaries to ensure the systems are ready for launch in the first quarter of 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cFactually, we\u2019ve probably got more products and a bigger basket, so we can reward people in total really well,\u201d Hanratty said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou may continue using your private bank for certain things, but you may well use us as a place to do your deposits, for example.\u201d<\/p>\n
The announcement came after the insurer announced that so-called adjusted headline earnings fell 22% to R7.7 billion ($483 million) in the six months through June, as weather-related claims in South Africa grew and strength in the rand trimmed the translated value of earnings from its businesses outside of its home market.<\/p>\n
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The impact of weaker equity markets and higher interest rates on bond valuations, particularly in Morocco and India respectively, weighed on performance, it said.<\/p>\n
Adverse unrealised mark-to-market movements on the group\u2019s investment in Ninety One \u2013 which involved Sanlam transferring much of its traditional active asset-management business to the firm \u2013 as well as losses on an Indian rupee hedge for insurance transactions in that nation also affected profit.<\/p>\n
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Sanlam has grappled with an increasingly volatile operating environment as conflict in the Middle East raised energy prices and interest rates. Severe weather-related events across parts of Africa increased catastrophe claims in the group\u2019s general-insurance operations.<\/p>\n
Despite this, Sanlam raised new-business volumes by 22% to R224 billion and net client cash flows increased 42% to R78 billion, reflecting the strong customer focus and competitiveness of the group\u2019s operating businesses.<\/p>\n
The insurer is banking on an even better second half as conditions improve.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do anticipate better earnings, basically because we\u2019ve taken a few actions to counteract the first half impacts of weather and other general insurance losses and we also think that the environment is easing up a little bit,\u201d Hanratty said.<\/p>\n
\u00a9 2026 Bloomberg<\/p>\n
#banking #heats #Sanlam #eyes #launch<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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