What do you do when you have R3.5bn in capital lying around? In Old Mutual’s case, it seems that you decide to start a bank (again).

South Africa’s second-largest listed life insurer said last week it’s applied for a banking licence in a bid to bring its transactional services in-house. Old Mutual already provides unsecured lending to customers and, says CEO Iain Williamson, the division “is a strong contributor to profitability”. ..

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