Jacques Celliers, CEO at FNB
FNB, recently recognised as the Strongest Banking Brand in the World by the Brand Finance Banking 500 2023 report*, has delivered excellent interim results for the six months ending 31 December 2022.
The bank’s performance was driven by solid customer, transactional and deposit growth. The results follow recent investments to refresh FNB’s brand and digital interfaces, and the renewed focus on being advice-led in our efforts to help customers through our integrated financial services model.
Some of the key highlights are:
• Active customers increased by 5% to 11.22 million (6% including eWallet only users)
• Profit before tax increased by 16% to R15 902 billion
• Deposits increased by 11% to R810.9 billion
• Advances increased by 8% to R507.1 billion
• Overall transaction volumes increased by 15% to 1.8 billion transactions
• Digitally active customers increased by 8% to 6.73 million
• Digital logins by customers totalled 878 million
• eBucks awarded increased by 9% to R1.1 billion
Our half-year performance demonstrates the trust that millions of individual and business customers have in us to help them manage both their day-to-day financial services needs and their long-term financial aspirations. Our focus on integrated financial services means that customers can use our wide range of services for transactional, borrowing, insurance, investment, and lifestyle-related activities. We also recognise that the high cost of food, fuel, and electricity continues to put financial strain on customers, and we will continue to provide them with adequate support. We are also assisting customers with funding for alternative energy sources such as solar, and we were proudly the first bank to participate in the government's Bounce-back Loan Scheme, which assists businesses in recovering from the effects of lockdown, unrest, and natural disasters such as the KwaZulu-Natal floods.
Our customers continue to trust our digital interfaces, with digital logins exceeding 878 million and the FNB App contributing 603 million logins. Our FNB App's active transactional users surpassed 5 million, setting a new monthly record of 103 million logins in October 2022. We’re seeing a growing number of customers taking up our digitally displayed offers, with 6.5 million pro-active pre-approved offers taken up in just six months, an increase of 21%. Appetite for digital payments continues to rise, with customers making 41.9 million smart device payments with 3.9 million virtual cards and R15 billion in payments. Our first-to-market real-time Instant Payment innovation, which launched in October 2022, has already generated R50 million in payments. In addition, eBucks Travel delivered R450 million in sales using our platform rails, and we also sold R9.2 billion in third-party services such as electricity, airtime, and digital vouchers via the FNB App.
Our Retail business, which services customers under our Personal and Private segments, continued to attract new customers (up 5%), and eWallet users increased to 8.2 million. We paid out R8 billion to house the families of first-time property buyers and R40 million in student loans to support individuals who are striving for a brighter future. We paid out R612 million in pre-emptive life insurance claims since the introduction of FNB Life and 50% of funeral claims are paid out within 4 hours. In addition, our short-term insurance policies increased to 275 000 (up 13%) in the previous six month. Similarly, we see encouraging momentum in Wealth and Investments, as the number of accounts increased to 604 000 (up 3%) and Assets Under Managed reached R71.5 billion. FNB is also the leader in household deposits, with R810.9 billion in deposits (up 11%).
We are also pleased that our strategies to offer bundled and low-fee bank accounts to customers was acknowledged in the latest Solidarity Bank Charges Report, where our Fusion Aspire, Fusion Premier and Easy Pay-As-You-Use bank accounts were ranked the best when it comes to value for money. On telecommunications, FNB Connect increased the number of active sims to 879 000 (up 4%) with customers using 1.2 billion voice minutes and 4.4 billion megabytes of data.
Our Commercial business continues to help entrepreneurs start, run, and grow their enterprises. Commercial’s half-year performance was bolstered by growth in both customers (up 5%) and deposits (up 15%). Our merchant acquiring volumes reached 487 million during the period (up 24%), and we offered R12.7 billion in new credit limits, R37.4 billion in funding to 209 000 female-led enterprises and welcomed 5 000 new farmers as customers.
Our growth story continues in our Broader Africa portfolio, with a 6% increase in customers, as well as a 5% increase in deposits and a 7% increase in advances. We are particularly encouraged by the adoption of digital channels across our portfolio markets, as this bodes well for our efforts to provide customers with helpful, easy, and safe solutions through our platform. Our agency banking CashPlus model continues to see impressive growth with 3 071 outlets (up 36%).
While a big part of our business's focus is helping customers navigate life, we also use our platform to assist the most vulnerable members of society. With the help of nav>>Care recently launched on the FNB App, our customers and employees have raised an amazing R3.8 million for good causes. In addition, our employees have used the feature to adopt over 1 000 Early Childhood Centres for 46 000 children under the care of 3 500 educators, as well as 96 old age homes that provide care to 5 700 seniors. Since its launch, our nav>> feature has also allowed customers to renew 233 000 license discs, and nav»Car has 848 000 vehicles loaded in its garage. Through this channel, we have financed R406 million in vehicle loans.
We are grateful to all members of society who take a keen interest in our endeavours, including those who see it appropriate to award us with prestigious honours. Recently, Global Finance named FNB the Best SME Bank in South Africa and acknowledged the FNB App as the Best Consumer Mobile Banking App in Africa. Our eBucks Rewards won the Best Long-Term Loyalty Programme at the South African Loyalty Awards and FNB Connect was named the joint Best Digital MVNO in the World at the MVNO World Congress. We are extremely grateful to our customers and employees for helping us make a positive impact on society.
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