FNB outlines plans to revamp its business
FNB, which unveiled a revamped banking app and a new logo on Friday, is focusing on being an advice-led rather than a product-led business, and aims to beef up offerings such as investments, retirement and living annuities.
The bank wants to become an integrated financial services provider that helps customers with their transactional, credit, insurance and investment needs.
FNB CEO Jacques Celliers said on Friday that FNB is the biggest retail depositor in the country — and “no-one touches us on that ”— while it continues to build competitive insurance, lifestyle, credit and business products.
However, in the investment world “we have a lot of work to do”.
Celliers said the bank is scaling up its focus in areas such as investment schemes, wealth management, retirement and living annuities and stockbroking. “That’s the space we want to grow [aggressively]. We got off the ground with good innovations,” he said.
FNB will refurbish its 600 branches with its new branding, but because this will be phased in over time it could not provide an upfront cost.
In the year to June, its wealth and investment accounts grew 10% to 590,000. It has assets under management of R64.8bn.
During the same period, total customers rose 5% to 10.96-million.
SA’s banks are investing heavily in technology and new digital services to attract and retain customers amid intense competition. FNB’s focus on expanding its digital platform is yielding results as the company is experiencing significant volume and activity growth. At the end of June its digitally active customers increased from 6.09-million to 6.48million.
The company said millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) and generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) are driving the adoption of alternative payments such as virtual cards.
Capitec, which was established in 2001, said last week that customers using its banking app increased to 10.8-million, up 21% from a year ago, representing 57% of customers. The bank’s active clients grew 13% to 19-million during the period.
Celliers said: “We want to make it easy for our customers to free up cash flow through best value for money solutions that make their money go further to realise their investment and insurance needs in line with their goals.
“We want to help customers through various life stages for themselves, their families and their businesses, and to ensure we advise them on the right solutions for their needs.”
He said the old way of banking had a range of products that were “clumsily” pushed to customers, who were expected to sign a number of forms with every product. But a move to digital, which is helping the bank understand its customers better, has made it easier to take up these products.
“We all have different needs. Once we sign you, we get to understand you, the challenges, opportunities you want to respond to, and create an offering to set you up for success,” he said.
“We are in this for the long game. It’s the same with our clients, they need to select a partner for a long time. If you don’t satisfy their different needs along the journey, then you will lose that relationship. Everyday experience must not be a burden. It must be easier, and we are getting better every day.”
A report released last month by PwC analysing the financial results of FNB, Standard Bank, Nedbank and Absa, said it expects “the unrelenting focus on the customer experience through digital,
product and channel innovation to continue”. It added: “Tech-powered transformation, data-enabled customer focus, and broad-based trust are becoming increasingly important.”
Branch interaction had increasingly become the domain of more personalised sales and servicing activities in areas such as home loans and wealth management.
Celliers said that while branches are getting smaller, FNB wants visibility in “every street, and it doesn’t have to be the big old branches”. This means that it will take services to customers’ premises. “The tools we are creating are the same whether you go to a branch or we go to our customers. It’s not about the location.”
New digital payment options launched by FNB include an instant payment solution that enables customers to pay anyone through the FNB app using just a card number. The recipient gets the money instantly in their bank account, irrespective of where they bank. PayMe allows customers to request a payment digitally to any FNB banked cellphone number.
The bank also introduced Money Protect, insurance cover for certain fraudrelated losses.