It provides a range of financial products and services to a client base in Europe, Southern Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

[7] Investec was founded as a small leasing and financing company in 1974 in Johannesburg, South Africa, by Larry Nestadt, Errol Grolman and Ian Kantor.

[10] Investec entered the UK market in 1992, by acquiring London-based Allied Trust Bank Limited ('ATB'), its first international acquisition.

[10] In 1998, Investec acquired Guinness Mahon, a leading London based merchant bank, and Henderson Crosthwaite, its stockbroking arm, for £95 million.

[10] In 2005, Investec sold its UK private client stockbroking operation, Carr Sheppards Crosthwaite Limited to Rensburg plc.

[18] In June 2012, Investec plc completed the €32 million acquisition of Irish brokerage firm, NCB.

[23] Investec employs approximately 8,200 people worldwide and operates primarily in South Africa and the United Kingdom.

[27] The deal covered all home test series and ran for six years until the summer of 2017, when the company exercised a break clause in its contract with the ECB.

[28] Investec became the principal sponsor of the England and Great Britain Women's Hockey teams in July 2011, from grassroots to international level, for an undisclosed sum.

The project aims at improving the mathematics and science skills of students from historically disadvantaged regions across South Africa.

[51] As of March 2019[update] Investec also helps to fund, along with several other large corporate sponsors, a private software engineering college called Wethinkcode, with campuses in both Johannesburg and Cape Town, with the objective of confronting the youth unemployment crisis in South Africa by providing free tuition for eligible students.