The 180-year-old insurer is betting its customer data and integrated financial model can carve out space in an increasingly crowded digital banking market
Old Mutual has launched OM Bank, making a formal push into retail banking after decades as an insurer and investment manager. The move gives the group a full suite of financial services under one roof, combining transactional banking, savings, credit, insurance and investment products.
The bank is built on cloud-native infrastructure developed with 10x Banking, enabling real-time personalisation, AI-driven insights and what the bank describes as fairer credit assessments. It targets customers from the mass market through to personal finance segments.
Old Mutual is not starting from scratch. By mid-2026, OM Bank had already onboarded hundreds of thousands of customers, largely converted from the group’s earlier Money Account product, and had accumulated substantial retail deposits ahead of its full rollout. The group brings roughly 7.5 million existing insurance and investment clients as a potential customer base and more than 180 years of financial data and behavioural insights. Profitability is targeted by 2028.
The strategic logic follows a global pattern. ING, NN Group and Allianz all began as insurers before expanding into banking, a model sometimes called assurbanking. Old Mutual is making the same transition, arguing that South African consumers want a single financial partner rather than separate providers for banking, savings, insurance and investment.
The pitch is timely. South African households are under significant financial pressure, with rising inflation and interest rates squeezing disposable income and pushing up debt servicing costs. Old Mutual’s own research suggests consumers are actively looking for providers that offer more than basic transactional services.
OM Bank’s product offering covers transactional accounts, savings products, credit facilities and integration with Old Mutual Rewards. The broader ambition is to move customers away from fragmented, product-led banking toward what the group calls intelligent, lifelong financial partnerships.
South Africa’s digital banking market is growing but competitive, with neobanks and challenger platforms raising the bar on convenience and pricing. Old Mutual is betting that trust, integrated data and a genuinely broad financial offering give OM Bank a credible path to relevance.