Last week RMB London hosted around 80 Credit and Political Risk Insurers from the London market at its first client event of the year at Painters Hall in the City of London called Reconnecting with Africa.
The event came at the end of a number of 1 to 1 meetings with insurers where we shared the recent structural changes that have taken place at RMB. The recent merger of the Corporate and Investment banking functions of the bank has resulted in a single team to manage the bank’s Private Side Insurance and ECA financing capability. Creating one consistent touch point for both internal and external stakeholders means that there is now consistency of approach and a greater level understanding of the RMB story behind our buy side rationale when we are looking to approach insurers with transactions across Trade Finance, Investment Banking and our Global Markets origination capability. This consistency is further enhanced through our revised panel of brokers that represent us in the market which has been slimmed down to BPL, Howdens and Tysers.
The event was hosted by Stuart Hulks, RMB’s recently appointed Head of Insurance and ECA Financing, who was joined by RMB London’s CEO, Martin Richardson in welcoming everyone to the event. This was followed by a very informative session hosted by RMB’s macro economist, Daniel Kavishe, who spoke of where he believes growth opportunities exist in a post covid environment across the continent. We were then joined by Rob Leon, Co-Head of Investment Banking and Chidi Iwuchukwu, Head of Africa Regions for a joint session around the RMB strategy and future growth aspirations.
The afternoon was concluded with a client segment where our Head of Oil & Gas, Johnny Ross held a fireside chat with Seplat Energy Plc and our Head of Client Coverage, Mark Treagus, spoke to Helios Investment Partners. This gave insurers a true insight into the inner workings and franchise value add that RMB offers to these core clients in their African journey.
Credit insurance
Credit Insurance and its application to risk is nothing new and international banks have been using the product for many years when looking to mitigate balance sheet risk. RMB remains at its core a sub-Saharan African bank offering access to insurance support as an enabler and a complement to the bank’s risk position and origination capability. RMB has ambitious future growth projections across its client base and across the multiple jurisdictions and sectors within which it operates. It is our intention to lean on this credit insurance partner support to assist in our overall client deliverable.
Supporting Africa
Africa has seen a substantial increase in trade via export flows and increased investment for infrastructure development in both traditional and more sustainable investment projects in recent times. Africa and supporting Africa’s growth goes to the heart of RMB and FirstRand, where we look to create value socially, economically and environmentally, to do good business for a better world. Africa is our home and offers a lot of opportunities for investment, with the right on-the-ground partner.
