1998 - South Africa’s First Black-Owned Bank Launches

On May 20, 1998, African Bank officially became South Africa’s first fully Black-owned bank to be listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Formed by merging several Black financial cooperatives post-apartheid, African Bank was created to provide credit and banking access to millions of previously excluded South Africans. It became a symbol of Black economic empowerment in a country just four years removed from white-minority rule. African Bank\’s rise highlighted the importance of financial inclusion in the broader struggle for racial and economic justice. Though it later underwent restructuring, its founding remains a historic step in reclaiming economic agency. May 20 stands as a critical date in the legacy of Black entrepreneurship and sovereignty in finance. It underscores how institutional ownership is central to liberation—not just political, but also economic, across post-colonial Africa and the global Black diaspora.