Old Mutual CEO Jurie Strydom is confident that the group’s fledgling lender, OM Bank, is on course to breach the 1-million customer mark before year-end, with half of its customers coming outside the group’s ecosystem.The bank, which marked Old Mutual’s re-entry into the highly competitive banking sector after it severed ties with Nedbank nearly a decade ago, ended the six months to June with 742,000 customers and R1.4bn in deposits.The group has set the bank, led by Clarence Nethengwe, a target of 2.5-million to 2.8-million customers by the 2028 financial year and as much as R10bn in deposits.Strydom said the bank is transitioning from establishing the right to win to contesting the banking profit pool.“We have major touchpoints of the customers taking up OM Bank’s offering. Half of the customers OM Bank is signing up are new to Old Mutual,” he said.The traction of OM Bank comes as another of the country’s newest banks, Discovery Bank, also makes inroads in attracting customers and gaining retail deposits ― with the sector attracting even retail firms to compete for market share.Old Mutual’s interim results showed the group was making headway towards the targets laid by Strydom since taking office 15 months ago.The group delivered higher earnings in the first half of the year as both life annual premium equivalent (APE) sales and gross flows grew by a fifth.The group said on Tuesday that results from operations per share increased 11% to 126.3c, supported by positive growth in Old Mutual Life and Savings earnings and strong contributions from Old Mutual Investments and Old Mutual Africa Regions.This was partially offset by lower underwriting earnings in Old Mutual Insure relative to the strong previous period and investments to scale Old Mutual Banking. Results from operations were up 7% at R5.28bn.Life APE sales and gross flows both grew 21% while the value of new business was up 32% at R569m. Excluding some large Old Mutual Corporate risk sales secured in the present period, which are not expected to recur at the same level in the second half of the year, Life APE sales increased by 12%.The value of new business increased 32% while the value of new business margin improved by 10 basis points, supported by higher sales volumes and a more profitable business mix in Wealth Management, Old Mutual Corporate and Old Mutual Africa Regions. In Old Mutual Africa Regions, growth was driven by strong money market inflows in Malawi and improved unit trust flows in East Africa.Gross loans and advances remained stable year on year. Gross written premiums increased 3% supported by growth in Old Mutual Insure, partially offset by the effects of currency movements and lower renewals as a result of underwriting management actions in Old Mutual Africa Regions, it said.An interim dividend of 40c per share was declared, representing growth of 8%. The board has approved a further R1bn share buyback. This follows the completion in May of its previous R3bn programme. The group said it delivered cumulative cost savings of R936m against the 2024 expense base and is on track to achieve its cost savings target of R2.5bn by the end of 2027. The group announced the appointment of Ranen Thakurdin as CFO designate. He will succeed Casper Troskie next year as group CFO, subject to regulatory approval.