Nedbank to merge two banking units

Johannesburg - Nedbank, majority owned by insurer Old Mutual, will merge its corporate and investment banking units, it said on Wednesday, bringing wholesale operations under one management team.

South Africa's fourth-largest bank said in a statement that Brian Kennedy, head of Nedbank Capital, will be responsible for the merged unit from January 1.

The head of Nedbank's corporate division, Mfundo Nkuhlu, has already been appointed as the bank's chief operating officer and will also start his new role on January 1.

Together the two businesses contributed around half of Nedbank's earnings in the six months to end-June, the bank said.

It said last month it would acquire 20% of pan-African lender Ecobank Transnational for $493m.

Shares of Nedbank were little changed at R245.63 at 08:29 GMT.