Executive Succession at RMB Holdings

Herman Bosman, previously CEO of Deutsche Bank SA, will be joining RMH and RMI as CEO designate. He will succeed Peter Cooper, who will be retiring from his executive positions at the end of 2014, after 22 years with the group.

RMH (Market cap - R66 billion) owns 34% of FirstRand, South Africa’s leading banking group. During 2011 RMH spun out its insurance assets into separately listed RMI.

RMI (Market cap - R40 billion) owns strategic investments in several pre-eminent insurance groups, being 83% of OUTsurance, 25% of Discovery, 25% of MMI and 76% of RMB Structured Insurance.

Core shareholders of the two groups are Remgro, Royal Bafokeng Holdings and the founders of RMH, messrs GT Ferreira, Laurie Dippenaar and Paul Harris.

Herman Bosman (45) will join the RMH and RMI boards on 31 March 2014 as CEO designate of both companies.

He will succeed Peter Cooper, who intends to retire from his executive positions in the last quarter of 2014 after 22 years of service with the groups, the last 14 years as RMH / RMI’s sole executive director. After the transition period it is envisaged that Peter will continue his involvement with the group in a non-executive capacity.

Herman holds an LLM degree (cum laude) from the University of Johannesburg and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. He served as Chief Executive of Deutsche Bank South Africa from 2006 to 2013. Deutsche Bank is a leading player in the South African investment banking arena. Prior to that he was in the employ of Rand Merchant Bank for twelve years and ultimately headed up its corporate finance practice between 2000 and 2006. Herman serves on the Board of Governors of the University of Johannesburg and is a director of Business and Arts South Africa.

GT Ferreira, Chairman of both RMH and RMI commented: "During the last two decades RMH had the luxury of being able to dedicate Peter’s efforts almost exclusively to our group structure and shareholder matters. We have now pleasingly arrived at a point where shareholders have a clear view of where they are invested and, in the case of RMI in particular, we are getting ready to actively build out its investment portfolio.

I have often compared executive succession as being akin to a relay race, with one generation passing the baton to the next, while running together for part of the race. In this hand-over we arenot only achieving that, but also have the benefit of knowing the new runner as a result of having worked with him while he was in the group’s employ, and also from having benefited from his professional advice on transactions we concluded while he was away from the group.

We welcome Herman back and are excited in taking our investments to the next level while they are under Herman’s custodianship.”

Herman Bosman reflected on the appointment as follows: "Over the course of my professional career, I have had a close association with RMH, RMI, its core shareholders and the various underlying investments. I have been impressed with the uncompromising integrity and professionalism and with the quality of the investments. I am excited to formalise this association into a position which encompasses an interesting spectrum of activities across the existing blue-chip portfolio as well as envisaged acquisitions and new investments.”