FNB helps boost FirstRand’s profit 5% despite tough climate

Financial services group FirstRand, whose portfolio includes First National Bank (FNB), Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) and WesBank, said on Thursday it grew its profit 5% to R29.4bn in the year to end-June amid a strong performance from FNB.

FNB, the group’s retail and commercial banking unit, grew its pretax profits 11% to R25.3bn, driven by another strong performance by its SA business as well as in the rest of Africa.

The group’s diluted headline earnings per share (Heps) rose 5% to 497.2 cents in the year to June 30, with FirstRand upping its dividend 6% to 291c a share.

FNB’s normalised earnings rose 11% to R17bn, with the bank saying its turnaround in its rest-of-Africa businesses was proceeding well, with pretax profit jumping 31% to R1.5bn.

“Our digital interface continued to offer us fresh growth opportunities, with app logins topping 45.5-million in June this year,” said FNB CEO Jacques Celliers. “Sales and client interactions continue to grow on our digital platforms and we are delighted that clients have embraced the opportunity to engage on these interfaces.”

FNB retained its position as the largest retail deposit franchise in SA. Swipe volumes of debit and credit cards grew 11% and volumes across the card-acquiring business saw a 17% rise in transactions processed, which FNB said was excellent growth.

FirstRand said on Thursday the business environment remained challenging, and that while the government continued to make some progress in implementing governance and institutional reforms, this did not translate into improved economic conditions during its financial year.

The international environment had also deteriorated a little, and while there was the prospect of looser monetary policy from major central banks, this had been somewhat offset by increased risk to the global growth outlook.

gernetzkyk@businesslive.co.za