African Bank makes a comeback

Cape Town - A new version of African Bank, which was placed under curatorship in August 2014, was launched earlier on Monday.

The bank has kept its previous name and corporate identity. It starts doing business with an equity base of R10bn and a cash position of about R24bn.

“About two-thirds of the bank’s issued debt is today listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Ltd, the London Stock Exchange and the Swiss Securities Exchange. The remaining third will be held in the form of unlisted corporate bilateral deposits,” the company said in a press statement.

Brian Riley, African Bank’s new CEO, thanked its creditors – the South African Reserve Bank, Absa, Nedbank [JSE:NED], FirstRand [JSE:FSR], Investec [JSE:INL], Capitec [JSE:CPI] and Standard Bank [JSE:SBK], as well as the Government Employees’ Pension Fund - for making the re-launch possible.

“It is because of [their] financial support that we find ourselves here today.”

The bank’s headquarters are in Midrand. It will provide a host of financial products, moving away from its previous business model of unsecured lending to include services such as financial advice.

The bank has just fewer than 400 branches countrywide, apart from digital, direct marketing and contact centre sales and service channels.