The South African brothers who built a R100 billion banking empire

South African brothers Ian and Bernard Kantor are two of five banking legends who founded and established Investec—a multinational financial giant that started out as a small leasing and financing company.

Investec was founded in South Africa between 1974 and 1980 by the Kantor brothers, Larry Nestadt, the late Errol Grolman and Stephen Koseff.

Each of the bank’s founders is a financial legend in its own right, serving in high positions within the bank, but it was Ian Kantor who united the forces.

According to Bernard’s telling of the history to BizNews, Nestadt and Koseff were from Benoni, and the brothers were from the Free State and then Pretoria. An outlier, Grolman, was from Potchefstroom.

None were close to Joburg, yet they all came together in economic capital to establish what would be one of the most iconic banking brands in the country. This was thanks to Ian’s connections.

“Ian started a finance company from a leasing business because he’d come from Lease Plan International in those days. He met Larry, and then they met Errol, and they got together, and they formed Investors, Technical and Executors (Investec), and that was in 1974/1975,” Bernard said.

Bernard joined his brother in 1978, and Koseff then joined the operation around 1980, when they received their first banking licence and became a bonafide bank.

The company, now called Investec, was listed on the JSE in 1988.

The bank eventually entered the UK in 1992. In 2002, the group implemented a dual-listed company structure with listings on the London and Johannesburg Stock Exchanges.

In March 2020, the Asset Management business was demerged and separately listed as Ninety One.

In 2025, Investec’s market capitalisation exceeded R100 billion, and it has the reputation of being one of the most prestigious private banking and wealth management groups in South Africa.

According to Bernard, he and his brother had different approaches that often led to fights in the boardroom. However, he said that this should not be misconstrued as their not being close.

He described Ian as being well-read and an intellectual—while he himself tended to shoot from the hip.

“You always want the best for the business, and we didn’t always agree,” Ian said. He said he came up with a solution: every one of the founders at the time had veto power and could use it on anything.

This forced the group to get together and discuss things and find an understanding—and communicate clearly about what was holding any given decision back.

“This thing of ‘you can do anything you like as long as there is consensus’ became the basis of Investec’s culture,” he said.

Ian holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pretoria. In 1969, he enrolled for an MBA at the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, and after graduating, he started his career at IBM.

He also taught business finance at the University of the Witwatersrand with an emphasis on the mathematics of finance.

When Investec was founded, Ian continued as CEO until 1984, served as chairman of the holding company until 2002, and then was a non-executive director until 2020.

Ian retired from the Investec Board of Directors in 2020 after being with the company for 45 years.

When he left his role as CEO of Investec, Ian moved to the Netherlands in 1988 to acquire and develop Bank Insinger de Beaufort—another private bank—and served as its CEO.

Like his brother, Bernard has also left South Africa’s shores, having lived in London since 1997, helping to establish the Investec in the UK.

He was pivotal in Investec’s push into the UK market.

He described himself as a ‘deal-doer’ and focused on the business. Like his brother, he grew up in the Free State and attended high school and university in Pretoria, studying accounting.

At the time Ian was working on establishing Investec, Bernard was working for a company called CCAP Investments, which was eventually dissolved.

He then took over the remnants of the group’s books and took over the leasing side. He was working out of an office at Investec and was asked to join.

Bernard served as managing director of Investec from 1978, when he joined, until his retirement in 2018. He did not continue on the board of directors.

“If I had any strength, it’s building. I don’t think I was cut out for board meetings. If there’s anything to pioneer and build, I’m game for that,” he said.

Ian and Bernard, along with Stephen Koseff, gave an extensive interview with BizNews’ Alec Hogg on what it took to build Investec. You can watch the full interview here.