Introduction by the chairman              
 Our vision and values                      
 Sustainability report overview              
 Group overview                               
 Group executive committee          
 Executive summary                           
 Stakeholder engagement               
 Economic contribution                    
 Corporate governance and ethics
 BEE and FSC                                   
 Shareholders                                
 Customers                                        
 Employees                                     
 Suppliers                                         
 Corporate social responsibility
 Environment                                    
 African footprint                                  
 International footprint                       

Financial objectives
   
 

Performance against objectives

      
  2004
Actual
 2004
Normalised1
 2004
Objective
Return on equity
 26,4% 24,5% 20%
Headline earnings per share growth
 22,9% 20,3% 14,3%2
Cost-to-income ratio
 57,5%   56,0%
Credit loss ratio 0,43%   <1,00%
       
Medium-term objectives
Normalised1 return on equity (ROE) of 22,5%
Normalised1 headline earnings per share (HEPS) growth to exceed domestic inflation (CPIX) by 10 percentage points
Cost-to-income ratio to be at or better than 55,5% in 2005
Credit losses to be contained within 0,75% of average advances (2005) and to remain less than 1,00% over the medium term
       
1 ROE and HEPS growth normalised to reflect legal substance of the Black Ownership Initiative.
2 Average CPIX for 2004 of 4,3% + 10,0%.

The cost-to-income ratio objective was not achieved while the other three objectives were well exceeded. Unchanged net interest income coupled with 12% cost growth were the primary reasons for the increased cost-to-income ratio. Cost growth was impacted by a variety of factors including business volumes, continued enhancement of the group’s IT systems capability and staff incentivisation.