R4bn banking gamble: South Africa’s newest bank bets on 2028 profit

Johannesburg – Old Mutual is targeting break-even to a R200 million operating profit by 2028 for its new banking business, after investing more than R4 billion to establish the lender.

OM Bank, which officially launched in August 2025, has already attracted 742,000 customers and R1.38 billion in deposits, according to BusinessTech.

Old Mutual CEO Jurie Strydom said the bank expects to reach one million customers within weeks, while deposits could grow to R10 billion and lending to R26 billion by 2028.

“We’re targeting a return from operations of sort of between break-even and 200 million profit in 2028,” Strydom said.

‘Much harder’ 

Old Mutual has also earmarked a further R2 billion to support the bank’s growth.

The scale of the challenge reflects the difficulty of building a profitable new bank in South Africa.

Moneyweb reported that Discovery Bank, which launched in 2019, took seven years and billions of rand in investment to reach profitability.

Discovery CEO Adrian Gore said it is “much harder” than expected to build a successful bank.

Moneyweb previously reported that Old Mutual’s strategy requires roughly 2.5 million to three million customers to achieve profitability.

Strydom, however, remains confident about the bank’s progress, saying: “We will hit a million customers in the next couple of weeks.”

Picture: Grok

For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com

Compiled by Betha Madhomu

The post R4bn banking gamble: South Africa’s newest bank bets on 2028 profit appeared first on African Insider.