Johannesburg, 10 March 2020 – Against the backdrop of an increasingly tough economic climate, FNB has once again delivered solid interim results for the six months to 31 December 2019.
FNB key insights:
- Profit Before Tax (PBT) up 5% to R13.2bn
- Advances grew 8%
- Deposits up 10%
- NIR held up well growing 7%
FNB CEO, Jacques Celliers said, “We are pleased with our performance for the six months to December 2019. The lift in profit before tax continues to be underpinned by our focus on attracting main banked clients coupled with ensuring that clients have access to solutions for their needs.”
“The solid results reflect the resilience of our overall business despite the low growth economic environment. More importantly, it also reflects the depth of our client relationships across our Commercial and Retail segments. As we scale our efforts to build a trusted platform bank, we remain resolute in ensuring that our customers can reap the benefits of the efficiencies we continue to build to help them navigate these tough times,” he said.
Celliers highlighted the strong performance from both Rest of Africa and Commercial while attributing the subdued Retail performance to the deteriorating financial position among consumers as a result of the poor macroeconomic circumstances.
The bank continues to grow its penetration into Insurance and Investments activities and the last six months has seen excellent growth in both areas. Insurance saw strong sales across the portfolio with standalone life products and sales in the MotoVantage environment performing strongly.
The Wealth and Investments efforts saw a lift in revenue, and it is very pleasing to see that distribution to bank customers is gaining traction. Both Insurance and Investment areas are key pillars for future growth.
Within the core transactional business, the bank continues to see strong client engagement with financial transactions, client logins and card swipes all showing resilient growth in both Retail and Commercial areas. The Rest of Africa portfolio is also leveraging the platform with strong client and transactional growth evident in key markets.
Over the period, digital logins were up 14% and logins across all digital interfaces reached a record high 120.1m in December 2019. Financial transactions on the FNB App continued to grow by 37% for the period, with increased uptake of money management functionality via our App and other digital platforms.
Inclusive banking products like eWallet are showing strong growth with all metrics up strongly with over 26 million sends seen over the period. As anticipated, the economic conditions have impacted the bank’s lending areas, and FNB remains focused on lending to core main banked clients.
“While we have seen targeted growth in key areas within Retail, as well as our collaboration with WesBank and Commercial, customers across all our lending areas are under strain. The market has been difficult, however we are pleased by the performance of the deposit franchise, which grew strongly at 10% within South Africa and saw the Rest of Africa portfolio provide deposit growth of 5%,” concludes Celliers.
The Bank thanks its customers and employees who continue to embrace its platform strategy and digital journey. FNB remains committed to enabling all its customers with tools and solutions to meet their individual and business needs.
INFO SUPLLIED BY FNB.
