Shareholders to support African Bank’s re-entry into wholesale funding market

Small lender African Bank said on Monday it had received shareholder support and R8 billion in assistance to help it re-enter the South African wholesale funding market.

The lower-income lender is controlled by the central bank after a 2014 bailout by the regulator due to its weight of bad loans.

Its bid to become a competitive bank following a relaunch in 2016 has struggled to gain traction, partly due to the weak economy.

“To build a robust and sustainable long-term operating model, African Bank needs to re-establish itself as a reliable and accepted counterparty in the domestic wholesale funding market,” the lender said in a statement.