A unit of FirstRand, South Africa’s biggest bank by market capitalisation, plans to set up private banking services in Ghana and bolster its offerings in four other markets to tap the continent’s growing wealthy population.

The subsidiary, First National Bank (FNB), plans to start a private bank targeting Ghana’s affluent salaried and self-employed population. It’s also seeking to broaden its private bank offerings in Botswana, Namibia, Eswatini and Zambia to meet the changing needs of its rich client base.

Africa is a burgeoning market for wealth creation partly due to strong economic growth as well as continent-wide efforts to develop key industries and boost industrialisation. Luxury retailers and top hotel chains from LVMH’s Louis Vuitton to Marriott International are betting on rising consumer spending power and growth in the continent’s middle class and millionaire populations.

“There is an untapped opportunity to target high net worth individuals,” Eric Enslin, the chief executive of FNB’s private banking and advisory unit, said. Excluding South Africa, the continent’s richest economy, the lender operates in five of Africa’s top 20 wealth markets, he said referring to a report by Henley & Partners.

The Johannesburg-based lender’s renewed focus on Africa’s rich comes about four years after it overhauled its private banking offerings in its home market to include more advisory services and solutions for families. As part of that move it upskilled and converted several private bankers to certified financial planners to better cater to about 1.63-million clients in South Africa earning more R750 000 annually.

“It took us over two years to properly transition and then get proper traction but our investment flows, our insurance activity, the banking and lending and our market share - trends that we track - are all positive and in the right direction,” Enslin said.

For now, the private banking division will focus on existing markets and has already begun work to enhance operations in Botswana, Namibia, Eswatini and Zambia, Enslin said. It hasn’t “fully defined the timelines for Ghana at this stage,” he said. The private banking services in Ghana expand its retail banking operations there.