New broom, and new competition
PROFILE: FirstRand CEO Alan Pullinger
Taking over at a time of great challenge to the banking sector will make Pullinger’s work that much harder. But he has homed in on the opportunities for FirstRand
FirstRand CEO Alan Pullinger will start his new job at a time when the bank needs to be ready for real competition, and not just from other banks. It also has to square off against fintech businesses such as Bank Zero, created by former FNB bankers Yatin Narsai and Michael Jordaan, as well as telecoms businesses and insurers that are rapidly moving into its space.Pullinger, who will succeed Johan Burger on April 1, seems to have sussed out the competition."The telecoms companies have difficulty building trust and getting enough customers, and I am not sure how many people would be prepared to put their salary into a fintech start-up," he says.Pullinger is more concerned about soon-to-be-launched Discovery Bank: he is familiar with Discovery as the insurer’s credit card is managed by FNB.He believes it will succeed. "It has built up trust, it is very well managed and it has some data which will be useful in running a bank."But I am confident that FNB has much richer data available...
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