Nedbank Group named South African Bank of the Year for 2011

Nedbank Group named South African Bank of the Year for 2011 1 December 2011 The Banker magazine, a leading global banking publication, has named Nedbank Group as the South African Bank of the Year for 2011 at a gala function in London on 30 November 2011. This prestigious award recognises excellence in banking across the globe. The Banker noted that "the trust that clients have shown in Nedbank Group through the recent financial crisis contributed to the recognition of being named ‘South African Bank of the Year 2011’ and is also testimony to Nedbank Group’s strong management, sound business model and prudent risk approach". The award is even more noteworthy given the fact that South Africa was rated second in the world in terms of "soundness of banks" in the recent World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report. Nedbank Group’s Chief Executive, Mike Brown, said: "At Nedbank we pride ourselves on being a world-class financial organisation that always strives to be admired by our staff, clients, shareholders, regulators and the communities in which we operate. We are deeply honoured by this award, but at the same time recognise that we are on a journey and more still has to be done to achieve our vision of building Africa’s most admired bank. "The award is testimony to the hard work of all the Nedbank Group staff over the past few years. We have been building on our strengths in our wholesale businesses, growing our wealth business and repositioning our retail business to become more client-centric. To this end we have launched various innovative new products such as Ke Yona, Savvy and Mpesa to focus particularly on the youth and entry level markets; we are expanding our branch footprint and ATM network; extending our branch hours to make banking more convenient for our clients, kept price increases below inflation over an extended period; and improved our risk practices within our retail areas. The outcome, as reflected in the group’s interim results to 30 June 2011, is strong growth in non-interest revenue thereby unlocking value for our shareholders, while continuing to build strong capital and liquidity positions with core Tier one capital of around 11% Nedbank Group is increasingly becoming a great place to work, a great place to bank and a great place to invest. ENDS …………………………………………………………………………………………………….