{"id":796753,"date":"2024-10-23T09:51:30","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T07:51:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=796753"},"modified":"2024-12-05T16:37:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T14:37:50","slug":"another-bank-calls-it-quits-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/796753\/another-bank-calls-it-quits-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Another bank calls it quits in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Sasfin plans to close its Business and Commercial Banking (BCB) business in 2025, joining a growing list of financial companies exiting their South African banking operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its delayed financial results for the year ended 30 June 2024 (FY24), Sasfin said that its BCB business suffered increased losses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thus, the group plans to exit the BCB business by the end of 2025, meaning that Sasfin will no longer have any banking operations in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The move forms part of the South African bank&#8217;s broader strategic reset, which the group announced in 2023. This reset includes selling its Specialised Finance and Commercial Solutions businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is also finalising the sale of its Capital Equipment Finance and Commercial Property Finance businesses to African Bank for over R3 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the overall group recorded a R60 million loss in FY24, it said that its core business, Wealth and Rental Finance, continued to perform well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group also plans to delist from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Following the proposed delisting, the group will continue its strategic reset by divesting from non-core<br>activities, including BCB,&#8221; said the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This business has built strong capabilities over the years, holding significant inherent value with the potential to thrive in a different environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;This strategy will enable us to focus on our core Wealth and Rental Finance businesses. Significant progress has been made by exiting non-core activities and navigating challenges, positioning us well to execute the remaining strategy in the months ahead.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-businesstech wp-block-embed-businesstech\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"jNDQgtMURl\"><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/796527\/massive-loss-for-sasfin\/\">Massive loss for Sasfin<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; clip: rect(1px, 1px, 1px, 1px);\" title=\"&#8220;Massive loss for Sasfin&#8221; &#8212; BusinessTech\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/796527\/massive-loss-for-sasfin\/embed\/#?secret=cMn1ErPFY4#?secret=jNDQgtMURl\" data-secret=\"jNDQgtMURl\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Joins a growling list <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sasfin&#8217;s decision follows a series of international and local banks that also called it quits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>UK-based bank <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/792453\/major-international-bank-quits-south-africa\/\">HSBC<\/a> recently announced that it has reached an agreement to transfer its branch business in South Africa to FirstRand Bank. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sale will include transferring the branch\u2019s clients and banking assets and liabilities and will provide transferred clients with continued access to banking services in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HSBC\u2019s branch employees will also transfer to FirstRand as part of the agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Subject to regulatory and governmental approvals, the transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>HSBC South Africa will serve its branch clients as usual until the business transfer is completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, the sixth-largest bank in the world, <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/771015\/international-bank-confirms-south-africa-exit\/\">BNP Paribas<\/a>, is no longer operating as a bank in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2012, the French company was permitted to conduct business as a bank in South Africa through a branch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nevertheless, the group has started scaling back from its non-core operations across Africa, with its focus fixed on Europe and Asia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BNP Paribas\u2019s ability to conduct a bank&#8217;s business via a branch was withdrawn on 8 March 2024 following a government gazette signed by Prudential Authority CEO and South African Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Nomfundo Tshazibana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although it no longer operates as a bank in South Africa, BNP Paribas is still the owner of credit provider RCS. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When it comes to local players, the Bidvest Group also plans to dispose of <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/789126\/south-african-bank-up-for-sale-as-bidvest-boosts-profits\/\">Bidvest Bank<\/a> and FinGlobal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The group said it will position these businesses for the next growth phase while also recycling capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bidvest&#8217;s management aims to identify a suitable buyer by the end of the 2024 calendar year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/796755\/big-interest-rate-cut-on-the-cards-for-south-africa\/\">Big interest rate cut on the cards for South Africa<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sasfin is undergoing a massive strategic reset, which includes exiting its Business and Commercial Banking operations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":796779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[26,12334],"class_list":["post-796753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-headline","tag-sasfin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796753"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":803179,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796753\/revisions\/803179"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}