FNB NETS A MULTIBILLION TENDER DEAL
Asiphe Cokile
Tswarello Monyane
Its final, First National Bank (FNB) will handle the Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) purse for another five years. This was announced at the Legislature by the Finance MEC, Barbara Creecy.
Currently FNB holds the province’s centralised banking services contract which ends in March next year. In addition, the company will provide corporate and commercial banking services which include, free training and development of GPG officials in all spheres of financial services as required by the province.
“I would like to congratulate FNB on this important appointment and we look forward to working with them to ensure both the safekeeping of the province’s resources and the timeous payment of our staff and service providers,” said Creecy.
This division of First Rand Limited, is expected manage all the banking transactions of the provincial government including the payment of salaries of 200 000 officials and supplier payments of more than R3-billion per month.
At the briefing Creecy also revealed that the province’s budget will increase from R95.3 billion in the 2015/16 financial year to R103 billion in 2017/18. Pressed further to explain, she said, “FNB had the most competitive pricing structure. We will ensure that this partnership assists with our programme of township revitalisation by availing financial and non-financial assistance to small business owners. We also want to work with FNB to increase the financial literacy of government employees.”
Danny Zandamela, FNB CEO for public sector banking, welcomed the announcement and said, “It is a humbling experience which also brings with it great expectation. It is FNB’s intent and commitment to fulfil all obligations entered to successfully. We look forward to the next coming years in facilitating and enabling Gauteng Provincial Government to achieve its objectives. FNB would also like to thank GPG for being forward thinking by pioneering the first Open Tender process in the country.”
When asked about the level of fraud affecting FNB clients, he said, “We have various systems and operational procedures to curtail fraud. We have top security technology employed for the protection of our clients online banking activities.” He also stressed that FNB has got extensive anti fraud teams actively monitoring security issues across the banking industry.
Did you know?
As the banking partner to the provincial government, FNB has committed to implement the following key initiatives:
• Invest R200 million through the Vumela Fund to support the development of township enterprises;
• Work in partnership with Gauteng Enterprise Propeller on incubation of start-up companies;
• Assist SMMEs that want to bank with them with online application for EmpowerDex BEE certification at discounted rates, online interface in order to obtain Tax Clearance Certificates (TCCs), and automated registration for VAT.
The awarding of the banking contract also concludes the Open Tender pilot process of the GPG. The first project was the upgrading of the Cedar Road. That contract has been awarded and construction has begun.
