Standard Bank Group CEO Sim Tshabalala made the remarks at the Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation Winter Seminar in Johannesburg, where political and business leaders discussed migration and its implications for Africa.
Tshabalala used Britain’s departure from the European Union as a warning of the potential economic consequences of policies driven by hostility towards migration.
He said Brexit had reduced the UK’s gross domestic product by between 6% and 8%, lowered investment by 13% and increased unemployment by about 4% compared with a scenario in which Britain remained in the bloc.
Those figures were presented by Tshabalala during the seminar. Independent estimates of Brexit’s impact vary.
Britain’s Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that Brexit will eventually reduce the UK economy’s potential productivity by about 4% compared with remaining in the EU. It has also said the country’s GDP could be 5% to 6% lower by 2035 than it would have been without Brexit.
“Look at Brexit,” Tshabalala said, according to reports from the event, arguing that South Africa should treat Britain’s experience as a caution rather than a model.
Tshabalala challenged the argument that foreign nationals inevitably take jobs, suppress wages and place an unsustainable burden on public services.
He said migration could reduce unemployment by expanding economic activity and increasing demand for goods and services.
“Migrants are not only workers; they are also consumers. They are tenants. They are commuters. They are farmers, they are borrowers, they are traders and they are entrepreneurs,” he said.
The Standard Bank CEO said migrants rent accommodation, purchase food, use public and private transport, pay school fees and establish small businesses that may employ local people.
They can also fill skills shortages, expand the productive workforce and strengthen commercial relationships between South Africa and other African economies, he added.
Tshabalala also disputed claims that foreign nationals contribute little to government revenue.
Migrants employed formally pay income tax, while those operating outside the formal employment system still contribute through value-added tax and other charges when they purchase food, fuel and other goods, he said.
The available evidence does not support the claim that migration necessarily damages employment prospects for citizens.
A major UK government review, for example, found that most academic studies detected no significant effect of immigration on the employment or unemployment outcomes of UK-born workers, although wage effects could differ across income groups.
Tshabalala’s intervention is significant because Standard Bank’s business extends far beyond South Africa.
Standard Bank is Africa’s largest lender by assets, with total assets of R3.6 trillion, equivalent to about $218 billion at the bank’s reported exchange rate, at the end of 2025. It recorded headline earnings of R49.2 billion, about $2.7 billion, during the year.
The group operates across more than 20 African markets, placing it at the centre of trade, investment and capital flows between South Africa and the rest of the continent. Standard Bank describes itself as the continent’s largest bank by assets.
Tshabalala said South African companies had invested about R500 billion across the continent, while investments by African entrepreneurs in South Africa stood at roughly R64 billion.
He also noted that several of South Africa’s biggest companies,including telecommunications, banking, retail, mining and energy groups, depend on operations and customers elsewhere in Africa.
The figures underpin his argument that South Africa cannot separate its domestic economy from the movement of people, capital and businesses across the continent.
The comments come as South Africa faces renewed demonstrations and political pressure over undocumented migration and foreigners’ access to employment and public services.
Former South African president Kgalema Motlanthe told the seminar that weak economic growth and failures in governance, not migration itself, were fuelling anger and xenophobic violence.
MTN Group chair Mcebisi Jonas similarly argued that South Africa’s underlying economic problems would remain even if every migrant left the country.
He blamed weak growth, inadequate education, poor governance and infrastructure failures, saying migrant labour had historically contributed to the development of South Africa’s mining, agriculture and commercial sectors.
The interventions reflect growing concern among business leaders that hostility towards African migrants could damage South Africa’s relationships with markets in which its own companies have major commercial interests.
South Africa is simultaneously undertaking a wide-ranging overhaul of its citizenship, immigration and refugee framework.
The Cabinet approved a revised White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection in April 2026 following consultations across the country.
The policy seeks to consolidate the country’s Citizenship Act, Immigration Act and Refugees Act into one law, eliminating contradictions between the existing pieces of legislation.
The government says the reforms are intended to improve border and immigration management while creating clearer routes for people whose skills, investments and businesses could contribute to the economy.
The Department of Home Affairs has also expanded its Trusted Employer Scheme, which allows approved companies to receive faster visa processing when recruiting senior executives, investors and people with critical technical skills.
For Tshabalala, the challenge is not whether South Africa should regulate migration, but whether its policies recognise migration’s potential economic value.
His argument places one of Africa’s most influential financial institutions firmly against the idea that South Africa can protect its economy by isolating itself from the workers, consumers, entrepreneurs and investors of the continent on which its largest companies depend.
