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New bank to till the medical field
FINANCIAL SERVICES
WHILE doctors and dentists will remain the ultimate target market for MLS Bank when it launches MLS Corporate on Wednesday, the move is intended to allow expansion in the medical field. MLS Bank is a medical specialist within the Absa stable. MLS Corporate will complement the retail banking operations by taking advantage of expected growth in private healthcare. MLS Bank's chief executive, Gerhard Cloete, says signs are that the government is likely to turn to the private sector for help in meeting SA's healthcare backlog. The bank was started 22 years ago and is the largest provider of financial services to practitioners. It has assets of R3-billion and made an outstanding return on equity of 26% last year for Absa on a very low cost-to-income ratio. The MLS group grew first with MLS Project Finance in 1991 and now runs a R600-million book. This was followed by MLS Aviation, which was started to help doctors buy the planes they need for patient visits. It now helps all aircraft buyers. MLS Investment Banking was established to permit MLS to take equity stakes in consolidating medical groups. MLS Corporate Bank was started last year to extend services. "These four are to be consolidated into MLS Corporate, which will focus on improving and expanding the services we can offer to the private healthcare sector," Cloete says.
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