Investec this week announced plans to double its “heritage franchise” of private clients, saying wealthy South Africans were proving largely immune to the country’s straitened economic conditions. Itumeleng Merafe, head of private banking at Investec, told journalists the bank’s high net worth (HNW) clients earning R5m and above — including entrepreneurs and investors in the property sector — were a significant contributor to the lending book.“They are often counter-cyclical when markets are tough; these clients perform well still. This is the upper end of your banking clientele. They are a substantial part of our lending book,” he said.Group CEO Fani Titi said the aim is to double the private client base from 128,000 to 250,000 by focusing on the R800,000-R1.5m annual income bracket — the “affluent” category, as opposed to HNW or ultra HNW. He said the bank had been under-represented in this market, which numbered about 1-million South Africans.“We regard private client as a heritage franchise for us. This is where we developed who we are. While we will continue to lead the market in the UHNW and HNW private client offering, we will also now go much harder at the affluent sector,” Titi said.We regard private client as a heritage franchise for us. This is where we developed who we are— Fani TitiTiti said Investec already had a strong foundation in the private banking segment, which contributes a third of the bank’s operating profit. The customer growth will come from enhanced digital platforms and savings and investment products tailored to the affluent segment, he said.Investec’s local private banking division generates R3.5bn in profit and hopes to double this to R6.5bn by the end of March 2030.In the UK, Investec is looking to add 5,000 private bank clients and boost operating profit from £32m (R700m) to £57m in the same period. Joubert Hay, head of Investec’s wealth & investment international division, said the group was expanding its footprint in Switzerland, Dubai and Mauritius. It entered a joint venture with Golden Hind in Latin America two years ago.“We have not made an acquisition in the wealth and investment space in the South African business for the last 20 years,” he said. His division had actively started to seek acquisition opportunities and wider revenue lines.Ryan Tholet, head of private banking in the UK, said contrary to the belief that HNW clients were leaving the UK, there was in fact an influx of such people, especially to the London area. “These are professional HNW clients. That is a growth area and we are looking to tap into that. When you are working with this type of client, their mindset is global: they do have some UK investment, but their outlook is around international and global diversified investments.”