THE GHOST TRAIN
THE FINANCE GHOST: Banking on fintech
It’s a good time to show some appreciation for the Halo Dot owner, and Lesaka’s acquisition of Bank Zero offers intriguing possibilities
It’s amazing how often the news on the JSE follows a theme. In the past week, it was all about banking, with the banks generally struggling to achieve net interest income growth in an environment of slowly decreasing rates and low demand for credit from retail borrowers. Core banking operations are not doing well, but results were boosted by varying degrees of growth in non-interest revenue and improving credit loss ratios.
Of the five large banking groups, the one you’ve wanted to own this year is — you guessed it — Capitec, with the share price up 14% year to date. Next is Standard Bank with a 2.5% increase, followed by FirstRand, which is slightly in the red as the market continues to weigh the risks in the UK motor finance industry. Absa is 6.5% lower and Nedbank is really suffering with the most concentrated exposure to South Africa among the traditional large names, down 14%. If there are any Capitec bears left out there, you have to look hard to find them...
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