Wef 2025: Standard Bank Ceo Sends Positive Signal For Year

Africas second largest economy is having something of a turnaround. After years of sluggishness, perhaps best signified by crippling power cuts, the South African economy is whirring back to life. A new government of national unity, led by the African National Congress and the centre right Democratic Alliance, has assured markets of stability and the hope of a prudent economic course. As inflation and interest rates decline, consumers and businesses are starting to spend again.

It is no surprise that Sim Tshabalala, CEO of South Africas largest bank, Standard Bank Group, is cheered by positive consumer sentiment in the banks home market when South Africa does well, Standard Bank does well.

People are buying both durable and non-durable goods. They are buying more clothes and going out to restaurants more often. Theyre borrowing to buy fridges and more cars and thats showing up in our balance sheet and in particular in our home loans book, where we are seeing increasing applications and increasing disbursements, he says.

Similarly, commercial customers are also spending with the confidence that investments in their businesses will pay off.

Our clients are buying more trucks and refurbishing their factories. They are buying more equipment, which is slightly different to what we were seeing prior to the elections, when people were simply maintaining, and in some cases not even maintaining, their plants. Now, they are refurbishing and rebuilding factories and buying new equipment.