This is how the Nedcor merger with BoE will affect you:
Nedbank
Nedbank's retail division, which has 840 000 clients, will continue to operate as it does, offering a range of banking products to clients with monthly incomes of more than R3 000.
Clients from other merged entities will move to Nedbank. Nedbank Syfrets Private Banking will shorten its name to Nedbank Private Banking. Although its services will remain unchanged, clients will have access to an expanded range of products and services under the BoE brand.
NBS
The staff and branches of NBS will over time be incorporated into Peoples Bank, which will offer similar products and services to NBS, and have branches in similar locations to the current NBS branches.
NBS clients will find that Peoples Bank will meet all the requirements that they have come to expect from NBS, Tom Boardman, who will head Nedcor's retail banking and wealth management operations, says.
Over the next 12 to 18 months, NBS's 780 000 existing clients will have to choose whether to have their accounts moved to Peoples Bank, Nedbank, or BoE, depending on whether they meet the income and other criteria.
During this transitional period, NBS and Peoples Bank will operate alongside each other under one management team drawn from the current management of NBS and Peoples Bank. The team will work together to ensure that clients of NBS and Peoples Bank receive the best service while being offered an increasing range of products and outlets, Boardman says.
Cape of Good Hope Bank
The 28 000 existing clients of Cape of Good Hope Bank, a niche bank that operates mainly in the Western Cape, will be incorporated into Nedbank Retail Bank.
Boardman says the decision to phase out the Cape of Good Hope brand was not taken lightly. After extensive investigation, it was decided that from a client as well as a business perspective, it made sense to concentrate areas of duplication under the most appropriate brand, he says.
Although the Good Hope Bank name will eventually disappear from the retail banking arena, Boardman says Nedcor plans to retain the bank's distinctive service and values, as well as its staff.
The Cape of Good Hope name will still be used alongside the Nedbank Corporate brand in the property finance market in the Western Cape.
Peoples Bank
Peoples Bank, which has 650 000 clients, will remain in place and will provide banking services to low- to middle-income earners.
It is intended that, over the next two years, NBS and other banks, such as Cashbank and PEP Bank, will be incorporated into Peoples Bank.
BoE
BoE, which operates in the wealth management and investment sectors, will become the Nedcor group's flagship brand in the wealth management market, and will retain the name BoE.
Several of the wealth management business units will operate within a joint venture arrangement with Old Mutual SA, namely BoE Private Bank, Syfrets Wealth Management, BoE Personal Stockbrokers, Franklin Templeton NIB Investments Private Client Asset Management, Syfrets Trust and Old Mutual Trust.
Old Mutual Bank and Permanent Bank
Old Mutual Bank (currently known as Old Mutual Banking Services), a joint venture aimed at the middle-income retail market, will be retained, but will operate as a division of Nedbank.
Peter Southworth, who heads Old Mutual Bank, says the bank handed in its banking licence earlier this year and paid out its 15 000 depositors.
Old Mutual Bank will retain the 3 000 home loans it holds, but will not issue further loans. In future, home loans will be handled by Nedbank.
The 450 000 clients who now have bank deposits with Permanent Bank will be moved to Old Mutual Bank.
Branches, ATMs and products
The branch networks will be restructured, resulting in some branches being closed. The number of branches is expected to decrease from 694 to 601, but most of the 93 branches that will close are located near other branches within the enlarged Nedcor group, Richard Laubscher, Nedcor's chief executive, says.
The total number of products under the merged Nedcor and BoE organisation is 388. This will be reduced to 223. For instance, the 93 different savings and deposit account types will be rationalised to 44. Many products are duplicated so the new range of products will not comprise the variety on offer to customers, Laubscher says.
There are currently 1 230 ATMs available across the group. It has not yet been decided whether the number of ATMS will be reduced.
The group's restructuring plans are subject to approval by the Reserve Bank, but Nedcor hopes that from a legal perspective the new structure will be in place on January 1, 2003.