Strategy

Our Vision

Our vision is to build a premier international savings and wealth management group.
This vision is built on a solid foundation of asset management and asset gathering expertise as we have a heritage of over 160 years in both South Africa and Sweden.

Our strategy

Our primary objective as a Group is to look after people's money well.
Our value proposition is built on offering our customers and their advisors access to top quartile investment returns and excellent service through business models that offer them choice and best value for money.

Our Group strategy is expressed through five main themes that serve to rally our diverse businesses towards our vision:

1. Growth in assets

Our growth aspiration is underpinned by a philosophy that size is not a prerequisite for success, but rather an outcome that is ultimately aimed at benefiting our customers.
By growing our assets we will be able to provide our customers with the best possible investment returns, as it provides a larger base for spreading corporate costs and our shareholders a good return in that greater funds under management also allows us to borrow capital more cheaply.

Over the past four years we have demonstrated strong growth particularly on the international front. Over the long term we are confident that we will maintain this above-market trend through two parallel and equally important strategies of driving organic growth and of acquisition in current and new geographies.

We have a solid base in South Africa and the Nordic Region to build from. In the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States we are building robust and high growth businesses through applying our strong investment management capabilities.

We are also investing in emerging markets that we believe will become substantial contributors to our future growth, and in particular are establishing formal business operations in Asia.

2. Business Performance

Our shareholders require a fair return for their investment, so we balance growth in assets with a focus on our capital allocation and profitability.
Enhancing our business performance also speaks to improved risk management and raising individual businesses' performance.

3. Knowledge Sharing

The world in which we operate is characterised by rapid change, in both economic terms and in terms of our customers needs. We respond to this change by sharing knowledge of emerging themes, technologies and best practice across the group, allowing us to quickly adapt our local businesses to our clients emerging needs and changes in the local and global environment.

Our Group is well-positioned in that we have unique capabilities in both boutique and proprietary asset management and asset gathering models, as well as expertise in a diverse range of distribution approaches all of which are reusable in the different markets in which we do business.

4. Reputation

Our reputation is built upon our desire to be respected members of the communities in which we live and work. We express this desire through our corporate values, through the way we interact with our customers, investors, regulators, suppliers and each other and through our active investment in the upliftment of our communities and care and preservation of our natural environments. These activities take place at a micro level where we operate and in many cases actively involve our staff in their personal capacity.

5. Learning

Our business is built on the strength of the people who choose to work for us. In order to execute our strategy we employ, develop and retain the best people available in each of our markets. We invest in our people and particularly focus on building a deep and wide pipeline of management and leadership talent that reflect the diversity of our geographies.

Our Operating model

Our strategy is executed as near to the customer as possible, but within the guidelines of common group-wide themes. Our businesses are empowered to decide the products, pricing and distribution options that would best meet local customers' needs and are encouraged to grow strong local brands where appropriate, but aligned to and endorsed by the Old Mutual brand.

At the centre we identify and facilitate cross-business synergies and knowledge sharing opportunities and provide a group-wide framework for governance, capital allocation and risk management which set common parameters for the local businesses.

Our Values

All our businesses subscribe to a set of common Group values of Integrity, Respect, Accountability and Pushing beyond boundaries.