Old Mutual, SA's oldest insurance company, has not written off the possibility of acquiring a banking licence as the insurer looks at how to "scale" up its existing money-lending activities. "We are comfortable with what we have at the moment, but from time to time we do think where we should take the full banking capabilities," CEO Peter Moyo said in an interview on Friday at Old Mutual's first results since returning from London. Despite not ruling out a future play for full banking capability, Moyo said banks made money from lending, and "... taking deposits is a cost". The insurer owns the second-largest bank in Zimbabwe, and already has a large lending business in the low-income and corporate sectors. SA's banking landscape is dominated by the big four, Standard Bank, Absa, FirstRand and Nedbank. Over the past decade Capitec has emerged as a strong competitor which has eaten into their respective market shares but as yet does not offer mortgages or vehicle finance. The emergenc...
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