OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday 2.45pm
STANDARD Bank Limited (Stanbic), which is fending off a hostile bid from rival Nedcor, has formed a joint venture with African Bank Investments Limited, the companies said on Wednesday.
The venture will focus on providing loan, insurance and transaction products to the country’s growing market of black customers, a joint statement said. It will have an initial funding facility of R500-million, with the loan book expected to grow to between R3-billion and R5-billion within five years, it said. The venture will be between Stanbic’s wholly-owned subsidiary Standard Bank of South Africa (SBSA) and African Bank.
Stanbic and African Bank will share the profits in a 60-40 split. Initially, the two banks will combine their respective skill areas to offer new products and services and attract new customers, they said.
Stanbic, through SBSA, has expertise in providing of traditional banking and associated facilities to the mass market, but does not have the credit management experience of African Bank in providing personal, unsecured lending products to the mass market.
African Bank has expertise in the provision and credit management of personal unsecured loans and associated products to the mass market. The appeals court ruled against Stanbic on Friday in a judgement likely to speed up a decision on the R30-billion all-paper offer from Nedcor, the largest in the country’s history. — Reuters