Nedbank says it ate its competitors’ lunch in mortgages and vehicle finance during the year ended December 2025 as part of the group’s growth strategy and intention to improve customer experiences.
Speaking to Business Times after the release of the group’s financial results for the year ended December, CEO Jason Quinn said Nedbank took market share in mortgages and auto finance.
“When I arrived here I said some of our processes around mortgages were a little bit slow in turnarounds, and we have fixed all that,” he said.
Quinn joined Nedbank as CEO in May 2024 after previously serving as Absa’s financial director.
He said in terms of personal loans the group had stopped the decline. However, despite interest rates coming down, consumers remained indebted with further interest rate cuts required before its personal loans business starts growing.
In the year to December Nedbank increased market share in home loans to 15.1% from 14.7% a year earlier while retail vehicle finance increased from 35.9% in 2024 to 36.1% in 2025.
In South Africa we talk about a 1.5% to 2% growth rate. In Kenya you talk about 5% to 7% growth
— Jason Quinn, Nedbank CEO
The increase in market share came as the group reported a 2% increase in headline earnings to R17.2bn.
The group’s impairment charge fell by 18% to R6.5bn and its credit loss ratio improved to 68 bps from 87 bps in 2024, within the bottom half of the group’s through-the-cycle (TTC) target range of 60 bps to 100 bps and better than management expectations.
“The reduction was primarily the result of successful execution of workout and derisking strategies, better front book origination and an improved macroeconomic environment, said Quinn.
He said Nedbank is eyeing growth in the east African market through the acquisition of a 66% stake in the NCBA Group. Nedbank in January tabled an offer to buy a 66% share of NCBA, one of East Africa’s leading financial services groups, from NCBA shareholders for about R13.9bn, based on a Nedbank issue price of R250 per Nedbank share.
Quinn said the group saw Kenya as a country not only with stability but with sound regulatory frameworks and a strong banking system. He said Kenya shares a lot of attributes with South Africa and the east African country’s growth rate is robust.
“In South Africa we talk about a 1.5% to 2% growth rate. In Kenya you talk about 5% to 7% growth,” he said.
Nedbank shifted its focused from west Africa to the east African and the Southern African Development Community markets last year after cutting back on its west African exposure through the sale of Nigeria’s Ecobank Transnational Incorporated for R1.8bn
Quinn said the deal takes the learnings from what did not work in the ETI transaction. “Instead of the passive stake we had at ETI, this is a controlling stake. It has a great management team. By working together we can build an amazing business,” he said.
Nedbank created business and commercial banking as a standalone business a year ago and hired veteran executive Andiswa Bata as MD of the business. It is aggressive about growth in the SME segment.
The group acquired iKhoka to expand the business and make its presence felt in the township SME space, particularly point of sales.
“We did not only buy it for the 55,000 point of sales devices. We bought it so we can lend into SMEs using the device. You get a lot of cashflow data at stores. On the devices you can see a lot about the cashflow of the business. You don’t have to worry about financial statements, you can see how much is being generated,” added Quinn.
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