FINANCE
Proposed state bank ‘will be no threat to big four’
Proposed state bank takes the heat off the largest banks to promote financial inclusion, market participants say
The state bank proposed by the ANC does not pose a threat to more established players unless government employees are compelled to bank through it, and takes the heat off the largest banks to promote financial inclusion, market participants said on Wednesday. "The big threat long-term if it is established, will be if government forced state employees to transact via this bank because their salaries are deposited into the bank," said Wayne McCurrie, portfolio manager at Ashburton Investments. "Also, it will take a long time to get a footprint like the big banks. So for the immediate future, this is symbolic, similar to buying the shares of the Reserve Bank. All of this could change in December, when we will get a leadership change in the ANC." At the ANC’s national policy conference, which ended on Wednesday, Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele was ordered to establish the bank within six months, a week after the South African Post Office’s Postbank submit...
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