South Africa’s FirstRand bank has launched an asset management arm, Ashburton Investments, to the already crowded investment market of Africa’s top economy.
FirstRand has been without an asset manager since spinning off its Momentum insurance unit in 2010.
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FirstRand CEO, Sizwe Nxasana, said: "The idea is also to continue to increase our non-interest revenue and fee income from this business."
Due to the tougher regulations taxed on core lending operations, banks worldwide are increasing their focus on fee-generating asset and wealth management businesses.
FirstRand already has FNB, RMB and WesBank.
Nxasana said that the new unit, Ashburton Investments, has more than US$10.81 billion in assets under management.
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By GlobalDataHead of Ashburton Investments, Boshoff Grobler, said: "Ashburton will give investors access to some non-traditional instruments.
"We will provide local investors with access to credit assets that have traditionally sat on the bank’s balance sheets in investable format. Ashburton will also offer exposure to real estate and hedge funds."
