JOHANNESBURG - Pepkor says it plans to establish a formal banking presence in South Africa, leveraging its strong retail and financial-services platform.
Pepkor reported a standout year: Revenue of R95.3-billion, up 12 percent and headline earnings per share rose 14.8 percent.
The company's strategic priority now is to expand fintech and financial services by acquiring Cloudbadger, and using its 3.5 million active credit-book accounts to support entry into banking.
The initiative builds on retail strength of over 6,000 stores and more than 10 million digital customers.
Pepkor got approval from the Prudential Authority this month.
But Tshepo Lephothe from Effectus Capital Management said, from a shareholder point of view, he is worried about capital allocation.
"It takes a bit of money to actually start a bank," he said.