Sanlam bets on aggressive passive-investment drive

Whereas Sanlam's investment arm contributed 10% of earnings to the broader group a decade ago, the reorganised unit now accounts for a quarter of the company's business and is banking on the Satrix platform boosting it further. Johan van der Merwe, the CEO of Sanlam Investments, says the business unit has a successful UK outpost, which will co-ordinate its global investment strategy, but it is the business Sanlam Investments can drum up in Africa that will form a crucial input.