—Leadership move: On 4 August 2026 the bank promoted Simbah Mutasa, who ran its South African investment bank, to lead investment banking across the whole of Africa. Bank of America is betting that South African deal-making holds up through global market turbulence, and has just handed its South African investment banking chief responsibility for the entire continent. Bank of America Bets on South African M&A Wave Despite Global Uncertainty. South African startups raised US$933 million during the year, the largest national total on the continent. These are small transactions by the standards of a global investment bank, but the direction matters.