South African banks were once regarded as introspective followers rather than leaders. But in the last six months, Investec, the independent Johannesburg-based investment bank, has broken the mould to become the foremost symbol of a financial services sector that is belatedly waking up to the pressures of globalization.
Two recent forays into the UK by Investec have taken the City by surprise as first one old-established name and then, only weeks later, another fell into the hands of what was previously a relatively unknown South African bank.
First, Investec snapped up Guinness Mahon, the British investment-banking group, for £95 million ($59 million) in early April, having outstripped fellow South African banks Board of Executors and Nedcor Investment Bank in the race to buy the group from Bank of Yokohama.
Then, by the end of the month, it had launched a £428 million conditional recommended cash offer for Hambros plc, the holding company of the London-based financial services group. Having been beaten last December by Société Générale in the race to buy Hambros Bank, it was only a matter of time before it re-emerged, this time as the chosen suitor for slimmed-down parent company Hambros.