Sanlam Ltd said on Thursday it had received regulatory approval to provide transactional banking services in South Africa through its partnership with GoTyme Bank, clearing the way for a soft launch on 1 November 2026 and a phased rollout during the first quarter of 2027. The Cape Town-based insurer disclosed the approval in its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2026. The initial phase will extend transactional services to staff, intermediaries and selected clients before the products reach the open market. Sanlam said the rollout remains contingent on the completion of several deliverables, including Apple Pay functionality.
The approval followed Sanlam's establishment of a retail credit joint venture with GoTyme in June 2026, an arrangement built on the group's earlier lending partnership covering unsecured personal loans bundled with credit life cover. Sanlam first signalled its intention to enter banking in September 2025, guiding at the time to a market entry during 2026. Chief executive Paul Hanratty said in 2025 that the group hoped to test with family and friends that year and be in the market by the middle of 2026, a timetable that has since slipped by roughly three quarters. The group described the rollout of transactional banking, alongside growth in retail credit, as a priority for the period ahead.
A DISTRIBUTION MODEL, NOT A BALANCE SHEET
Sanlam's structure differs from that of its insurance peers, which have built banking operations directly. The group is not constructing a bank of its own and will instead rely on GoTyme Bank, a digital lender backed by Patrice Motsepe, to take deposits, provide unsecured personal loans and offer life cover. Hanratty said in an interview on Thursday that GoTyme "is doing what we regard as banking business, and we are doing the distribution of the banking products to our customers." He added that a profit share is involved in the arrangement, making it "quite critical" to satisfy regulators that Sanlam is not itself performing the work of a bank.
Hanratty framed the proposition around pricing and breadth of product rather than displacement of incumbent relationships. He said the group's analysis indicated it could save its own customers a substantial amount in fees while offering better rates, including on deposits. He also suggested customers might retain existing banking relationships for some needs while using Sanlam for others, citing deposits as an example. The lender is currently beta-testing the offering with friends and family, with access widening to certain customers and intermediaries ahead of the first-quarter 2027 launch.
A CROWDING SOUTH AFRICAN MARKET
Sanlam enters a market where insurer-led banking ventures are already established. Old Mutual Ltd began its bank in 2025 and had accumulated 742,000 customers by June, remaining on track to reach one million by the end of August and to break even by 2028. Discovery Ltd launched its lender in 2019 and posted its first full-year profit in the 12 months ended June. Sanlam, valued at R175 billion on the JSE, will compete against those entrants as well as Capitec, FNB, Absa, Nedbank, Standard Bank and a widening field of digital challengers. Its Retail Mass business operationalised 156 retail branches during the first half and remains on track to reach 200 by year-end.
The banking push arrives against a weaker earnings backdrop. Adjusted headline earnings fell 22% to R7.7 billion ($483 million) in the six months to June, while operating profit declined approximately 7% to R7.3 billion from R7.9 billion and headline earnings per share dropped 15%. The group attributed the decline to elevated weather-related general insurance claims across South Africa and parts of Africa, rand strength that reduced the translated value of offshore earnings, and adverse mark-to-market movements on its Ninety One investment. New business volumes nonetheless rose 22% to R224 billion and net client cash flows increased 42% to R78 billion. The pace at which the November soft launch converts into open-market availability, and whether the outstanding technical deliverables are met, will determine whether the first-quarter 2027 target holds.