New South African bank is adding 3,000 customers a day

Old Mutual’s OM Bank has made strides since its soft-launch in South Africa in August 2025, achieving a customer run-rate of around 3,000 per business day.

This bank is a key part of the insurer’s plan to unlock value and generate growth for the business, with Old Mutual planning to leverage its existing assets to “establish the right to win” for OM Bank.

This was revealed in the company’s results for its 2025 financial year, which were released on Tuesday, 17 March 2026.

These results, covering the year through December 2025, revealed a strong performance for Old Mutual.

The company reported insurance revenue of R81.57 billion, up 12.26% from 2024, and a net investment return of R222.54 billion, up 45.81%.

It explained that Old Mutual Life and Savings benefited from positive experience and economic variances, as well as improved Old Mutual Finance profitability. 

Old Mutual’s banking and similar income reached R4.42 billion over the year, a slight decrease from the previous year.

Overall, Old Mutual made a profit of R9.21 billion after tax, a 9.84% increase from 2024.

The company reported basic earnings per share of 197 cents, a significant 11.8% jump from the previous year.

Old Mutual explained that its earnings were impacted by elevated returns and performance in Malawi, which has seen higher levels of inflation and shortages of foreign currency.

Its return on net asset value jumped by 250 basis points to reach 15.2%, which is within the group’s target range.

The group’s value of new business declined by 52% to R850 million, bringing its margin down to 1.2%.

Old Mutual made impairments of investments in subsidiaries of R11.8 billion, primarily related to Old Mutual Group Holdings and OM Bank.

A review of OM Bank to determine its recoverable amount resulted in an impairment charge of R2.97 billion.

OM Bank

This comes after the bank was soft-launched in August 2025, with the company notifying existing Money Account clients to begin switching to the new banking app.

While the bank has yet to have a hard launch, Old Mutual’s results revealed that it already has a substantial customer base and lending book.

The company reported a R15.12 billion loan book, slightly smaller than in 2024, as the company focused more on asset quality and improving the profitability of its loan book in 2025.

This allowed its net lending margin to strengthen to 12.8%, up significantly from 9.5% in 2024.

In addition, strong lending profits improved the bank’s net loss by 26% year-on-year, with the company eyeing cluster profitability by the 2028 financial year.

Old Mutual explained that sales in this division increased by 22% year-on-year, driven by enhanced credit and collections capabilities in Old Mutual Finance.

It has achieved a customer run-rate of around 3,000 per business day, with the bank now boasting 284,000 customers, 62% of which are active. Retail customer deposits reached R272 million, up 59.06% from the prior year.

The company explained that it achieved a high conversion rate as it converted its Money Account customers into OM Bank clients, with 48% of its active Money Account base converted.

46% of the bank’s customers originated through the Old Mutual Finance branch network.

For the bank to break even, Old Mutual estimates that it will need a client base of around 2.8 million South Africans.

To reach this target within three years will require an impressive rate of growth, with it roughly matching Capitec’s rate of expansion over the past financial year.

It is still unclear when the bank will have its hard launch, but Old Mutual said the phased rollout has given the company an opportunity to adjust customer journeys based on the feedback received from employees and whitelisted customers.

“The costs incurred across the build, test, and run phases of the bank have been largely in line with expectations,” it added. 

“Good progress has been made in establishing key operational processes and stabilising the branch network, both of which are critical to supporting the bank’s ongoing run phase.”

On the back of these positive developments and its strong financial performance, Old Mutual declared a final dividend of 56 cents per share, bringing its total dividend for 2025 to 93 cents.

OM Bank’s strong growth can be seen in the graphs below.