Nedbank Group Limited

Nedbank was established on 1 March 1888 in Amsterdam as the Nederlandsche Bank en Credietvereeniging voor Zuid-Afrika, opening its first agency in Pretoria in August of that year. It became the Nederlandsche Bank voor Zuid-Afrika in 1903, expanded to London in 1906 and merged with Transvaalsche Handelsbank in 1925.

When Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940 the South African operations were cut off from head office and the South African government appointed a controller to run the bank until 1945. On 15 January 1951 the business was split to create the Netherlands Bank of South Africa, in which the Dutch parent retained 75%; successive share issues and sales between 1954 and 1970 reduced Dutch ownership to zero, and the bank became fully South African in June 1970.

The name Nedbank was adopted in 1971. Nedbank Group was formed in 1973 through the merger of Syfrets SA, Union Acceptances and Nedbank, and Old Mutual acquired 53% in 1986. The Nedcor Group was formed in 2003 and renamed Nedbank Group in 2005. The group acquired the remaining 49.9% of Imperial Bank South Africa in 2009 and took a 20% stake in Ecobank in 2014.

Nedbank Group's primary listing is on the JSE under the code NED, with a secondary listing on the Namibian Stock Exchange as NBK and a listing on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange, where the counter trades as NED.VX.

Corporate structure

Nedbank Group is headquartered in Sandton, South Africa, and provides wholesale and retail banking, insurance, asset management and wealth management. Principal subsidiaries include Nedbank Limited, Syfrets Securities Limited, Nedgroup Investments, Nedbank Group Insurance Holdings, The Board of Executors and Nedbank Private Wealth Limited in the Isle of Man.

Beyond South Africa the group has operations in five SADC countries — Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe — representative offices in Ghana and Kenya, and subsidiaries or offices in Jersey, Guernsey, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. It also holds a 20% interest in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.

Old Mutual Life Assurance Company Limited is the largest shareholder, alongside the Government Employees Pension Fund, the Public Investment Corporation and international institutional holders.