South Africa’s plan to build its first dedicated import-export bank is, at its core, a capital-raising exercise: the state wants private investors, from sovereign wealth funds to commercial banks and venture capital funds, to buy equity in a new trade lender codenamed SA Eximbank, in exchange for a shareholding that will sit alongside public money. The government hopes the institution will help unlock an estimated R1.3-trillion in untapped export potential, a figure equal to about 20% of the country’s GDP according to RMB’s “Where to Invest in Africa” report released a year ago.
The Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa (ECIC), the state insurer created in 2001 to underwrite South African exporters selling into international markets, is spearheading the project. The ECIC, which reports to the department of trade, industry & competition, began a process on Friday to appoint transaction advisers who will advise on the structure of the mooted bank, moving the long-discussed institution closer to implementation, though the completion time frame may slip from the originally planned 2027/28. The government wants the bank established within the next five years.
Additional reference context is available at https://www.businesslive.co.za/news/2026-10-05-private-sector-to-own-stake-in-sas-first-import-export-bank/.
According to the request for proposals, the capitalisation structure will leverage private capital in exchange for shareholding in the new lender. The bank is to be funded by a combination of public and private capital, with bidders expected to secure money from fiscal budget allocations on the government side, and from sovereign wealth funds, commercial banks, institutional investors, fund managers, venture capital funds and international export credit agencies and Eximbanks on the private side. Crucially, even with private shareholders on the register, the institution is expected to retain its policy interventionist character and drive government policy and industrial strategy.
The market-sounding exercise that informed the request for proposals found the bank is expected to close financing gaps that constrain South African exporters and limit their participation in regional value chains, while addressing the financing requirements of small, medium and micro enterprises, black industrialists, new entrants and budding exporters. “Furthermore, the SA Eximbank should create capacity for export trade by providing trade financing instruments to exporters, providing capacity building and expansion of production and boosting South Africa’s industrial and manufacturing bases,” the request for proposals reads. The transaction advisers will also be expected to review the initial business case for the bank and identify any critical gaps that must be addressed to move from concept to implementation under the preferred institutional framework.
The new lender is expected to complement the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the pan-African multilateral founded in 1993 to finance, promote and expand trade within Africa and with the rest of the world. South Africa officially joined Afreximbank as a full sovereign Class A shareholder in April, unlocking access to a $14bn country programme, a development covered at the time by Business Day.
Meanwhile, the push for a dedicated trade bank comes as South Africa undergoes the most fundamental reforms to its logistics sector in a generation, with the private sector set to play a more pronounced role in managing ports and rail to lift capacity and competitiveness. The scale of the opportunity, and the cost of underperformance, is clear in the numbers. RMB’s estimates, based on supply capacity, demand and ease of trade, put South Africa’s untapped export potential at about R1.3-trillion, by far the largest of any African country.
On the rail side, the government aims to raise Transnet’s freight volumes to 250-million tonnes a year by 2030 through public-private reforms and open network access. Transnet handled 167.9-million tonnes of rail freight in the 2025/26 financial year, up from 160.1-million tonnes the previous year, but still 54.1-million tonnes short of the volumes reported in the 2017/18 fiscal year. Rail infrastructure has not kept pace with evolving logistics needs, and the resulting underperforming export systems weigh on the country’s competitiveness in regional and global trade. The Transnet Rail Infrastructure Manager (Trim) has asked the National Treasury for a further R26bn to refurbish the network. Trim this year also concluded agreements with 11 private train operating companies, expected to inject an additional 24-million tonnes of freight capacity across five strategic corridors targeting coal, manganese, containers, fuel and general freight.
At the ports, Transnet has concluded private sector participation at Durban Pier 2 Container Terminal, which handles about 72% of the Port of Durban’s throughput and 46% of South Africa’s overall port traffic. Several further projects, including the Cape Town Multipurpose Terminal, the Richards Bay Dry Bulk Terminal and the Ngqura Manganese Export Terminal, are in the procurement phase. For investors and exporters alike, SA Eximbank would sit at the centre of this wider reform agenda, providing the financing architecture that the logistics overhaul is meant to unlock. Whether the bank can hit its five-year deadline, and attract private capital at scale, may now be the decisive question for the country’s export ambitions.