While Webb examines the progress of the first colonial bank in the Eastern Cape and Chapman the wider international context, most of the book focuses on capitalist enterprise in the 20th century and the way in which South African development has mirrored that in other capitalist economies.

Venture capital, the city and South Africa in the 19th century, S.D.Chapman; beginnings of capitalism in the Eastern cape; the Eastern province bank, A.Webb; the separation of Nedbank South Africa from the parent in the Netherlands, H.W.J.Bosman; the international business of Nedbank 1945-73, G.Verhoef; the South African reserve bank and the course of the economy, D.W.Goedhuys; monetary policy, commercial banking and the political imperative 1965-85, K.A.Munro; the visible hand in South Africa - the top 100 companies 1964-84, S.Jones; multinmational corporations in the SADCC countries, J.Matthews; the standard bank and its records, B.Conradie.