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Financial Services · Insurance and asset management

Liberty Holdings

South African insurance and investment holding company that became wholly owned by Standard Bank Group in March 2022.

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Standard Bank sign inside its Johannesburg headquarters
The interior of Standard Bank’s Johannesburg headquarters in a photograph made on 18 March 2010. Photo: shi zhao · Source · Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic

Liberty Holdings is the insurance and investment holding company inside Standard Bank Group. [3][4]

History

Liberty began in South Africa in 1957 and later developed insurance, investment and asset-management operations. [4]

Standard Bank completed the purchase of Liberty’s remaining minority shareholders in March 2022. [1][4]

Frequently asked questions

Does Standard Bank own Liberty?

Yes. Liberty Holdings was wholly owned by Standard Bank Group at 30 June 2026. [3]

When did the full acquisition complete?

The minority buyout completed in March 2022. [1][4]

Is Liberty still separately listed?

No. It became a wholly owned group subsidiary after the 2022 transaction. [1][4]

Key milestones

  1. Liberty was founded in South Africa. [4]

  2. Standard Bank bought 25% of a Liberty control vehicle. [1][2]

  3. Liberty became a wholly owned Standard Bank Group subsidiary. [1][4]

Related articles

Related institutions

  • Standard Bank Group — JSE-listed African financial-services parent whose history traces to John Paterson’s 1857 Port Elizabeth banking proposal.

Sources

  1. Standard Bank Group, Our journey. Original source. Accessed 2026-10-31. ↩
  2. Standard Bank Group, Preference share pre-listing statement: incorporation and corporate history, 2004-06-14. Original source. Accessed 2026-10-31. ↩
  3. Standard Bank Group, Organisational structure at 30 June 2026. Original source. Accessed 2026-10-31. ↩
  4. Liberty Holdings, About us. Original source. Accessed 2026-10-31. ↩