South Africa’s newest bank nearly doubles its customers in three months without a public launch

OM Bank nearly doubled its customer base to 473,000 in the first quarter of 2026, with retail deposits rising to R541 million. 

The public launch of the bank is set to come in the second half of the year, Old Mutual said in a voluntary performance update for the first quarter of its 2026 financial year. 

Old Mutual CEO Jurie Strydom told Daily Investor earlier this year that he expects the public launch to meaningfully accelerate OM Bank’s growth. 

Currently, Old Mutual Finance is being integrated into OM Bank. This includes the transfer of Money Account customers to the bank. 

Old Mutual said OM Bank’s management is focused on boosting transactional activities and maintaining the quality of its loan book. 

While much focus has been on OM Bank and its ambition to participate in South Africa’s highly competitive banking sector, the rest of Old Mutual’s business is showing signs of improvement. 

Strydom has been put in the top job at Old Mutual to reinvigorate the insurer and put it back on the front foot, with the CEO saying he wants to bring the 180-year-old company back to where it belongs. 

“I think that is two things. One is in terms of customer acquisition and activity, the brand reach in South Africa and on the continent,” Strydom said. 

“But obviously, that is related to shareholder value. You cannot claim to put Old Mutual back where it belongs without a corresponding increase in shareholder value.” 

The company’s first quarter performance indicates that Strydom is having some success, particularly in relation to improved sales and new business margins. 

For the first quarter of 2026, Old Mutual’s Life APE sales surged by 28% year-on-year. Excluding a large deal in Old Mutual Corporate, sales were up 15%. This indicates strong momentum across most clusters.

Old Mutual said gross written premiums were marginally higher year-on-year, with Old Mutual Insure seeing an increase of 4%. 

Apart from insurance, Old Mutual’s investments business also put in a strong performance, with it seeing strong inflows across its products. 

Gross flows increased by 14%, driven by liability-driven investments, index funds, and equity and multi-asset funds in Old Mutual Investments. 

The African business also saw strong growth in this regard, with particularly strong flows in Malawi and Uganda. 

Net client cash flow continued to improve, driven by the good gross flows during the period and the non-repetition of low-margin indexation outflows in Old Mutual Investments that were reported in the prior period.

Crucially, the value of Old Mutual’s new business margin increased to 1.6% from 1.2% at the end of the 2025 financial year. 

While this is below its medium-term target range, it is a meaningful improvement in a short period of time. It attributed the rise to Old Mutual Corporate and Wealth Management. 

Old Mutual Insure also posted strong underwriting margins, with it being above its target range of 5% to 8%. 

This performance was supported by disciplined underwriting, targeted claims-cost initiatives and continued improvement in portfolio quality. 

Old Mutual said the results from the operations of R2.5 billion were in line with the prior period, despite additional investment in OM Bank and pressure on consumers. 

Its performance was limited by investment returns being significantly lower than the same period last year due to geopolitical tension.