Nishlan Samujh is a 21-year veteran of Investec, which he has seen list in London, navigate the global financial crisis, and part ways with its influential founders and former asset management division.
Samujh is part of the new guard that has been passed the baton, after being appointed group finance director in April 2019.
Your path to becoming the CFO of a multinational specialist bank was a little bit unusual. How did you end up joining Investec?
Growing up, I didn’t know Investec existed. But I became a client of the bank in my second year of articles, and I felt they understood me, and they understood where I was in my life cycle — they helped me finance a brand-new car during articles!
So, I felt that client-centric and solutions-driven culture as a client. Ultimately, that impression played a role when I finished working off my bursary with Sasol and I began to evaluate options for my career and was invited to interview with the bank.
Investec’s brand and its approach to risk was very different to many of its peers, and this was infused by its founders. Do you think that is going to change now that they have stepped aside?
At the end of the day, you cannot replicate Stephen [Koseff], Bernard [Kantor] or Glynn [Burger] and apply what they are indefinitely. But the organisation exists for very well-defined reasons. We will never try to be all things to all people like a mass-market bank. We know we have to differentiate ourselves in the highly competitive markets we participate in, and we are very focused on solutions for the clients we have the privilege of having access to.
We are confident in our leadership team. We have a balance between the people in which the culture is embedded, as well as fresh thinking we have brought into different areas. So we are excited about what that means going forward.
The strategy is now focused on two principal markets. But given some of the decisions you have made recently — the closure of Click & Invest and the streamlining of the London office — are you satisfied you have a clear strategy in the UK and have the scale and the resources to implement it?
I think we have the depth of capability in the UK and we can service the clients that make sense for us. The level of client acquisition has remained very strong since we have implemented our strategy to simplify and focus all aspects of Investec.
But we had to recognise we were operating at a cost base that was unsustainable, and our returns were below our cost of capital. So the platform needed reorganisation, but what the platform could do is well in place and focused on its key client strategies.
Investors would love to see some share price momentum that could be achieved by closing the discount the share trades to book value, as well as by achieving earnings growth. Is this likely?
We will ensure that we measure and deliver on the objectives we have set. When I look at the growth of many of our franchises, we are within the goals we set ourselves. But there remain challenges. If you look at some of the investments we have on our balance sheet, the current season reflects lower returns, with timing important in terms of realisations.
But most of the simplification and recalibration of the organisation has been executed and we are well positioned to focus on opportunities and growth.
With respect to pursuing opportunities to grow, would this be more likely to occur in the UK or SA, or both?
In SA it remains challenging to find material assets that can move the needle, whereas in the UK opportunities continue to exist. So there is probably a bit of a slant to doing something in that market, but they need to be the right opportunities that make sense for us as a business.
What do you think will be the longer-term effects of the pandemic?
Like many difficult challenges, the pandemic has accelerated multiple aspects that are redefining how we work, the spaces we use and tools at our disposal. If the lessons are used well, we have the opportunity to redefine our use of resources and the meaning of delivery. The pandemic has highlighted the need to accelerate multiple aspects of environmental, social and governance (ESG), bringing urgency to this imperative.
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