Discovery Bank’s R6bn, 1.5m man hours project has HSBC watching

Something really interesting is happening in  South African financial services right now – something the world's biggest banking group is watching developments from a front row seat. Discovery's new challenger bank, into which the group is investing the equivalent of almost 10% of its market cap, opens to the public today. Not surprisingly, it has consumed much of CEO Adrian Gore's time in the past few months, as he articulates in the Rational Radio interview embedded below. A mostly ignored aspect of the innovative project is the connection with the western world's biggest banking group. HSBC's chairman Mark Tucker is also the chairman of Discovery Limited. As you'll hear when listening to the interview, Gore plays down the association, he played it down. But given uncertainty faced by all banks globally, we can bet Tucker will be keeping a very close watch on the Discovery Bank's disruptive model in the South African market. – Alec Hogg