Liberty boss to join Standard Bank

Thabo Dloti. Picture: Antoine de Ras.

Thabo Dloti. Picture: Antoine de Ras.

Published Feb 27, 2014

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Johannesburg - Liberty Holdings, South Africa’s fourth-largest insurer, said chief executive Bruce Hemphill will take up a position at its parent, Standard Bank.

Hemphill will become head of wealth, insurance and non-bank financial services at Africa’s biggest lender, Johannesburg-based Liberty said in a statement today.

He will be replaced at Liberty by Thabo Dloti, chief executive of Stanlib, while Steven Braudo, head of Liberty Retail South Africa, becomes deputy chief executive, the insurer said.

Liberty, which has followed Standard Bank in targeting African expansion as growth in its home market slows, said in a separate statement that full-year profit rose 5.6 percent to 3.91 billion rand from a year earlier.

The company expects its insurance and asset management units to continue to attract higher levels of new business.

“There has been significant growth in the value of long-term insurance new business, customer cash inflows, operating earnings and the group’s shareholder investment portfolio,” said Liberty, which has operations in 14 African countries outside of South Africa.

Liberty shares rose as much as 2.5 percent and were 0.6 percent higher at 120.73 rand as of 9:14 a.m. in Johannesburg trading.

Earnings per share excluding one-time items increased to 15.59 rand, beating the 14.11 rand per share median estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Liberty will pay a final dividend of 3.69 rand per share, it said. - Bloomberg News

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