Goldman Sachs Group’s dash for post-pandemic profits in SA is putting it on a collision course with the country’s biggest banks.
“If you look at risk management and FX [foreign exchange] in South Africa, the wallet of the top five banks has over a billion dollars,” Penkin said. “Of course, they have much broader franchises but we want to be able to break into a part of that.” “We came in at a time when other banks were pulling out and our balance sheet and willingness to commit capital to corporates has been appreciated,” Penkin said. “The advisory business has been much busier than it was last year, mainly with M&A.”The US bank, which has had a presence in SA for more than 20 years, is making further inroads after committing to an expansion drive about two years ago.
“Finance and risk management — combining our new brokerage in South Africa together with the advisory side and providing financing and risk-management solutions to corporates — is where we see very significant growth,” Penkin said. “That’s already happening.” “We still have an out-of-consensus positive view on growth in South Africa and we think the prospects for inflation may be temporary,” he said. “That will obviously be positive for the economy as are the reforms announced last week around electricity self-use generation. These will take time to have an effect but it’s a very welcome move.”