The Nedbank Group will be focusing on Africa regions, specifically the Southern African Development Community (SADC), for future growth opportunities. The group, which recently posted strong financial results for the first half of 2025, has committed to re-investing some of its proceeds into SADC to ensure regional growth.
Nedbank’s Africa Regions (NAR) cluster includes Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe, along with representative offices in Kenya and Ghana. This cluster plays an important role in the bank’s long-term strategy. The group has stated that its next phase of growth will be led by its operations across the African continent.
“In the case of Namibia, there are key productive sectors that will drive economic growth,” said Terence Sibiya, group managing executive for Nedbank Africa Regions.
During a media luncheon last week, Sibiya said the role of Nedbank has become more important in enabling individuals and companies to grow and contribute to the economy.
“Some proceeds will be re-invested in the growth of SADC, and we have been quite clear in public statements that we will be focusing in the region, specifically in Mozambique and Namibia, where we believe the economies will look quite different within the next five to 10 years,” said Sibiya.
He added that Nedbank’s expertise is crucial around financial structuring and risk warehousing in markets, particularly in Namibia with impending oil and gas, green hydrogen and existing resources developments. Sibiya emphasized that Nedbank must be well-positioned to work with all key stakeholders in Namibia to ensure value is delivered to the economy.
“In our DNA as Nedbank, our purpose is to make a difference, not only in people’s lives but in society at large by providing financial services to enable people to do better,” said Sibiya.
At the end of June, the Nedbank Group reported headline earnings of N$8.4 billion for the six months ending 30 June 2025, representing a 6% increase from the same period last year. The group’s return on equity also improved slightly, rising from 15% to 15.2% while growth was mainly driven by higher non-interest revenue, better performance from associated businesses, improved handling of bad debts and effective cost control.
Commenting on these financial, Jason Quinn, Nedbank Group chief executive, said the results demonstrates progress against strategic initiatives.
“We also grew diluted headline earnings by 7%. Our loan growth is coming through much stronger and driving economic growth. Corporate and investment banking was up 8%, personal loans were up 6% and deposits were up 10%,” said Quinn.
Meanwhile, at the same event, Nedbank Namibia chairman, Sebby Kankondi, pledged the bank will use technology to expand its Namibian footprint in a bid to serve the previously unbanked.
“We don’t just want to be a bank that always wants to become bigger and bigger. We are going to focus and we have a strategy in place. Slowly but surely, we are going to add value to the Namibian economy. This will be done through new technology to go beyond our footprint to do business to the previously unbankable. We can only arrive at that destination if we take our people with us, so we must empower our human resources and we must embrace technology. Those are the two enablers that will allow us to go into the future that we desire,” said Kankondi.
Nedbank Namibia managing director, Martha Murorua, added that Namibia is a vast country where sometimes the nearest bank can be as far as 500 km away. In this regard, and due to the relatively small population, it is not always practical to erect brick and mortar branches.
“For us, this Paytoday app is just that enabler, because it will enable us to reach our customers in the rural areas while it gives Nedbank a platform to be more visible,” she said, touting the bank’s mobile application.
– ebrandt@nepc.com.na