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Old Mutual Limited
Old Mutual sells insurance, savings, investment and banking products to people and businesses across Africa.
Old Mutual is one of Africa's big financial services groups — a company that sells the financial safety net most people need at some point in their lives: life insurance, savings plans, investments, and banking. It serves both ordinary retail customers and larger corporate clients, mostly in South Africa, where it is one of the best-known financial brands, but also in a handful of other African markets.
The business works like a collection of related money machines. The insurance side collects premiums from customers and pays out claims, keeping the difference after costs and investing the float in the meantime. The savings and investment side manages people's retirement money and other long-term pots, earning fees for looking after it. The banking arm takes deposits and lends money out, earning the spread between what it pays savers and what it charges borrowers. These pieces fit together because a customer who buys life insurance might also open a savings plan or a bank account — one brand, many products, deeper relationships. Old Mutual's roots go back to 1845 in Cape Town, and it grew into a sprawling conglomerate spanning insurance, banking, and asset management across several continents. A turning point came around 2018, when it split itself into separate businesses — Old Mutual, Quilter (its wealth management arm), and Nedbank (its banking stake) — so each could focus on what it did best. Today the group has returned to its core: insurance and savings for African customers, with a large and profitable presence in its home market.
Its biggest vulnerability is South Africa itself. The company's fortunes are tied closely to the country's economy, its currency, and its consumers' ability to keep paying premiums when times are tough. Competition comes from other large South African insurers and banks, and from global players in the asset management space. Old Mutual pays dividends to shareholders and has used buybacks to return cash as well, a common pattern for mature insurers that generate more cash than they need to reinvest.
Saved answer · last researched 12 Nov 2026