Sasfin Holdings Limited (“the Group” or “Sasfin”) is a bank-controlling company that listed on the JSE in 1987. Sasfin and its subsidiaries, notably Sasfin Bank Limited (the Bank), provide a comprehensive range of specialist financial products and services for Business and Wealth clients. This range of financial products and services focuses on the needs of entrepreneurs, corporates, institutions, and high-net-worth individuals.

How they do business

The Group is structured into distinct, yet closely interactive divisions, namely entrepreneurial, corporate, commercial, institutional and private clients. Sasfin partners with each and every client,  acting with respect and honesty, to offer tailor-made solutions to meet business challenges.

Sasfin believes that a client-centred, personalised relationship with their clients is absolutely essential to deliver the correct financial solution. This enables Sasfin to be “a partner beyond expectations” in its chosen markets. The five divisions – Business Banking, Transactional Banking, Capital, Wealth Management and Commercial Solutions – offer a range of specialised products and services to assist clients with their business and individual financial requirements.

Purpose Statement 

They go beyond a bank to unlock business potential and grow wealth. 

Vision

By supporting investors and entrepreneurs, they enhance economic growth.

Mission

To be a specialist Business, Banking and Wealth partner beyond their clients’ expectations by deploying capital and skills to deliver financial solutions tailored from their  comprehensive range of services to select entrepreneurs and investors.

Their values and behaviours:

Integrity

• They operate with the utmost honesty, ensuring that ambition is always tempered by uncompromised moral standards.
• They seek to uplift the communities in which they operate, recognising the importance of sustainability through projects that enhance the lives of others.

Respect

• They treat their clients, colleagues and communities with the utmost respect.

Greatness

• They strive for greatness, driven by the aspirations of individuals through their dedication, innovation and excellence.
• They look for the potential in their employees, clients and partners, realising that greatness often comes from unexpected places.
• They conduct their business with an entrepreneurial spirit, always seeking new opportunities to contribute to a healthy, growing economy.

Partnership

• They strive to be a partner beyond expectations, always seeking solutions that enhance their services through beneficial offerings to their clients.
• While celebrating brilliance and encouraging independent thinking, they recognise that no individual is greater than the team.

Their target markets

Sasfin’s target markets have evolved:

• In 1987, their  target market was the entrepreneur and small and medium enterprises
• Following the granting of their banking licence in 1999 and their acquisition of Frankel Pollak (now SasSec) in 2000, Sasfin’s target was expanded to include high-net-worth individuals and corporates
• With the development of Asset Consulting and the acquisition of a Fixed Income team in 2013, Sasfin expanded its target market to include institutional clients
• They now offer transactional banking services to high-net-worth individuals, small and medium-sized businesses and corporates

History

Chief Executive Officer Roland Sassoon’s father established his business in Norwood in Johannesburg in 1951, and Roland joined his father in the family business when he was 17 years old.  By that time, the business evolved from textile importing to a small-scale trade and debtor financing company, growing steadily in stature to see Sasfin become listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in 1987.  To continue growing the business, in 1991 Sasfin took the groundbreaking step of securitising its equipment finance book.  Securitisation was not only the springboard for Sasfin, but has become also a cornerstone of the business and it is the oldest running securitisation vehicle in the country.

The next major development phase came with the granting of a banking licence – opening the doors for Sasfin to raise capital by means of direct deposits and leading to the acquisition of the reputable stockbroking firm of Frankel Pollak, which is now known as Sasfin Securities.  This move injected a broad client base of high-net-worth individuals who became an additional source of significant deposits into Sasfin – and those clients remain with Sasfin to this day.  In fact, in many cases, Sasfin is advising and managing wealth for the third generation within client portfolios.

Sasfin continued to grow by taking innovative steps such as injecting capital into businesses for an equity stake holding instead of merely lending money to fund a company’s development.  In 2009, the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, invested as a shareholder in Sasfin and partnered with Sasfin to stimulate growth in the South African economy.

The future

Sasfin is creating the critical mass necessary for each unit to be optimally viable to deliver on Sasfin’s specialist, multiline banking and financial services offerings, without compromising on quality.