South African executive Fani Titi leads Investec's expansion into Dubai

Oluwatosin Racheal Alabi -

Key Points

  • Investec opens a Dubai office to serve South African expats.
  • The bank aims to connect with regional family offices managing large assets.
  • Investec sees growth potential in post-election South Africa.

Investec, a bank focused on high-net-worth clients in South Africa and the UK, announced Wednesday it is opening an office in Dubai to serve the growing expatriate community.

“We are seeing a lot of South Africans considering Dubai as an option to either work or permanently live,” Investec CEO Cumesh Moodliar told Bloomberg. “Building off that, we’ve seen family offices being quite active in that region as well as key financial institutions.”

Focus on family offices managing up to $1 trillion in asset

The South African Business Council reports there are more than 2,400 South African-affiliated companies registered with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce, according to South African Consul-General Tsepo Lebona. Investec estimates that as many as 5,000 of its UK expat clients live in Dubai.

Investec is positioning itself to connect with family offices in the region, which handle between $700 billion and $1 trillion in assets, according to Darryn Solomon, senior executive officer for Investec in Dubai. Solomon said between 150,000 and 200,000 South Africans live in the United Arab Emirates.

Tapping opportunities in South Africa’s post-election economic growth

The bank also sees opportunities to guide Dubai-based investors interested in post-election developments in South Africa. Business confidence has risen since President Cyril Ramaphosa formed a governing coalition following the May 29 elections, in which his African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since 1994.

“The positive sentiment will start translating into higher levels of activity in South Africa,” Moodliar said. “We think the government will strongly consider public-private partnerships, particularly in infrastructure and utilities. Our corporate and institutional business, and our energy and infrastructure divisions, are well positioned to play a role.”

Investec’s expansion comes as other South African banks grow internationally. Absa Group recently opened a non-banking unit in China, and Standard Bank Group plans to open an office in Egypt by year’s end.