Standard Bank’s corporate and investment banking (CIB) franchise, the group’s largest division, has set a target of raking in about R100bn in revenue by 2028, looking to strengthen its already dominant market position.
The CIB business, which has R1.5-trillion in deposits and R700bn in advances, is looking to grow its revenue by R25.6bn in the next three years from R74.4bn in the 2025 financial year to R100bn by 2028, with a revenue growth of 8%-12% per annum.
This is as the unit seeks to further create a day-and-night difference with its rivals, with its nearest competitor, Absa, having reported R37bn in revenue in its most recent results.
The franchise, led by Luvuyo Masinda, has identified three themes that will grow revenue and earnings in the medium term: energy and infrastructure super cycle, stronghold in fastest-growing trade corridors, and critical minerals value chain.
The opportunity in Africa in these themes includes $130bn-$170bn needed in energy infrastructure per annum and $44bn needed in copper.
The trade corridors that the lender is looking to cash in are the Africa-EU, China-Africa and Gulf Co-operation Council-Africa corridors, which together represent more than $1-trillion in financial flows.
Masinda, in the group’s capital markets day on Thursday, outlined the franchise’s medium-term growth blueprint.
Under the growth plan, Masinda said the CIB business is well positioned to scale in high-growth markets and defend its fortress position in core markets.
“Our strategic ambition is clear. We want to position CIB as Africa’s leading integrated corporate and investment bank, delivering seamless execution and providing deep liquidity and sector expertise, as well as best-in-class capital solutions for our clients,” Masinda said.
“What differentiates us is our people. The strength of our teams, deep local knowledge and the way we collaborate across CIB and business and commercial banking enable us to show up as one bank.
“We are confident that we have identified the right opportunities and we are partnering with the right clients to support Africa’s next phase of growth.”
The CIB business serves large corporates, multinationals, governments, parastatals and institutional clients.
The shining armour in the CIB’s arsenal is its global markets unit, which contributes 43% of the franchise’s revenues, followed by transaction banking at 35% and investment banking at 22%.
The CIB business reported R24.1bn in earnings in the 2025 financial year, constituting a large chunk of the group’s R49.2bn profit in the period.
One of the big growth vectors in the group’s 2028 targets to achieve earnings growth of 8%-12% per year and a return of equity of 18%-22% is the business and commercial banking (BCB) franchise, headed by Bill Blackie.
The BCB business has set a target of growing deposits to R725bn by 2028. The business now has R190bn in deposits from enterprises with annual revenues of up to R100m and R330bn in deposits from the 100,000 mid-corporate businesses with income of R100m-R1.5bn, creating a healthy future pipeline for the CIB business.
Investec has recently restructured its South African businesses to include a business & commercial banking segment with plans to grow the corporate mid-size segment by 7,000 businesses by 2030 to complement its base of 3,000.
The target is to grow revenue in this segment in South Africa to R3.8bn by 2030 from R1.7bn.
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