African Bank has announced that it’s been chosen as the successful bidder to acquire the majority of Ubank’s disclosed assets and liabilities. It will also take Ubank’s employees on a going-concern basis if the proposed transaction goes through. Ubank is a financial services provider with a strong presence in selected mining and rural communities. The bank was placed under curatorship by the Reserve Bank in May of this year on the back of corporate governance concerns, a high number of internal control weaknesses as well as capital requirement issues.
This is really an acquisition of Ubank business by African Bank that is very much in line with what was announced last year. As the Accelerate 25 strategy’s vision is to return the bank into being the bank of the people, by the people, serving the people. Building a bank that is going to be customer centric, data and digital enabled but it would be diversified, scalable and sustainable.