Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and discipline of money, currency, assets and liabilities. As a subject of study, it is related to but distinct from economics, which is the study of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Based on the scope of financial activities in financial systems, the discipline can be divided into personal, corporate, and public finance.
An institutional investor is an entity that pools money to purchase securities, real property, and other investment assets or originate loans. Institutional investors include commercial banks, central banks, credit unions, government-linked companies, insurers, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, charities, hedge funds, real estate investment trusts, investment advisors, endowments, and mutual funds. Operating companies which invest excess capital in these types of assets may also be included in the term. Activist institutional investors may also influence corporate governance by exercising voting rights in their investments. In 2019, the world's top 500 asset managers collectively managed $104.4 trillion in Assets under Management (AuM).
New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC) is the third-largest life insurance company and the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States, and is ranked #71 on the 2023 Fortune 500 list of the largest U.S. corporations by total revenue. In 2023, NYLIC achieved the best possible ratings by the four independent rating companies. Other New York Life affiliates provide an array of securities products and services, as well as institutional and retail mutual funds.
Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is an American diversified financial services company and bank holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It provides financial planning products and services, including wealth management, asset management, insurance, annuities, and estate planning.
The Management College of Southern Africa (MANCOSA) is an education institution located in Durban, South Africa. It is a private higher education institution, established in 1995 as a post-apartheid empowerment institution, offering affordable and accessible management education primarily to persons previously denied access to postgraduate education. In 2017, it joined Honoris United Universities. From 2002, MANCOSA publishers the Journal of Management & Administration.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to finance:
Actis LLP is a global investment firm focused on sustainable infrastructure, in particular the energy, infrastructure, and real estate asset classes.
Sanlam is a South African financial services group headquartered in Bellville, Western Cape, South Africa. Sanlam is one of the largest insurance company in Africa. It is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Namibian Stock Exchange and the A2X. Established in 1918 as a life insurance company, Sanlam Group has developed into a diversified financial services business. Its five business clusters comprise Sanlam Personal Finance, Sanlam Emerging Markets, Sanlam Investments, Sanlam Corporate and Santam.
The Empire Life Insurance Company, operating as Empire Life, is a Canadian life insurance and financial services company headquartered in Kingston, Ontario. It was incorporated in 1923 and is a subsidiary of E-L Financial Corporation Limited of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The company provides individual life, health and investment products as well as group life and health products through independent distribution partners including financial advisors, management general agents, national account firms and employee benefit producers. Empire Life is the parent company of Empire Life Investments Inc., a Canadian investment management company launched in 2011.
The Dangote Group is a Nigerian multinational industrial conglomerate, founded by Aliko Dangote. It is the largest conglomerate in West Africa and one of the largest on the African continent. The group employs more than 30,000 people, generating revenue in excess of US$4.1 billion in 2017.
STANLIB is a South African asset manager based in Melrose Arch, Johannesburg which is a wholly owned subsidiary of JSE-listed Liberty Holdings Limited. STANLIB operates in nine African countries, and in key developed markets globally. The company was formed in 2002 when Liberty Asset Management (LIBAM) and Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank Asset Management merged. Both of these companies at the time were subsidiaries of Liberty Holdings and Standard Bank respectively. It is the biggest unit trust company by market share, managing capital for over 400,000 clients. It runs the oldest existing unit trust in South Africa which was developed by Liberty. STANLIB manages and administers R608 billion assets for more than 500,000 retail and institutional clients.
FirstRand Limited, also referred to as FirstRand Group, is the holding company of FirstRand Bank, and is a financial services provider in South Africa. It is one of the financial services providers licensed by the Reserve Bank of South Africa, the national banking regulator.
Coronation Fund Managers is a South African third-party fund management company, headquartered in Cape Town. The company has locations in all South African major centers and offices in, Ireland, United Kingdom and in Namibia where it is represented by Namibia Asset Management a strategic partner. As of December 2019 the company had Assets under management of R578 billion.
Naushad N. Merali, CBS was the founder of the Kenyan mobile service provider Kencell along with French media giant Vivendi. Merali became famous in an almost folk tale for a corporate boardroom manoeuvre that earned him a $20million dollar profit in one hour thanks to pre-emptive rights of his stake in private Telecom company Kencell Kenya in 2004. He attended Highway Secondary School in the suburbs of Nairobi, Kenya. As one of Kenya's leading industrialists, Merali brought commercial development in Kenya for more than 30 years and was constantly expanding his businesses throughout East Africa.
Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais is a Swiss-Angolan entrepreneur who has founded and led several businesses over the course of his career. Among these are Quantum Global Group, an international investment group with a particular focus on Africa and Banco Kwanza Invest, Angola's first investment bank.
Alexander Forbes Group Holdings, commonly referred to as Alexforbes is a diversified financial services organisation. The company is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, with a presence in two other countries on the African continent: Namibia and Botswana and in the Channel Islands through an offshore Jersey operation.
Orbis Investment Management is an investment management firm headquartered in Bermuda, with offices in London, Vancouver, Sydney, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Luxembourg. The company has a close relationship with Allan Gray Investment Management in South Africa and Allan Gray Australia. Orbis manages approximately $35 billion on behalf of both institutional and individual investors. Orbis Access, its direct-to-consumer platform, was launched in the UK in January 2015.
Allan William Buchanan Gray was a South African billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He founded the privately owned investment management company named after him, and the non-profit Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, and the Allan and Gill Gray Charitable Trust. Before he donated his stake in the Allan Gray investment management company, his net worth was estimated to have been US$1.8 billion in 2017.
