First National Bank (South Africa)

First National Bank, commonly referred to as FNB, is a major South African commercial bank. Founded in 1838 and headquartered in Johannesburg, FNB is a division of FirstRand, a large, publicly-traded financial services conglomerate.

Overview

FNB is one of the three major divisions of the FirstRand Group, with the others being Rand Merchant Bank and Wesbank. The company maintains banking subsidiaries, which it owns wholly or in part, in Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, Ghana, India, Lesotho and Guernsey.

History

FNB is the oldest bank in South Africa. It traces its origins back to the Eastern Province Bank, which was formed in Grahamstown in 1838. At that time the bank financed the wool export boom in the district. By 1874, the bank had four branches – in Grahamstown, Middelburg, Cradock and Queenstown

Controversies

CIEX Report

In 1999, the First National Bank was mentioned in the 'Ciex Report' that summarised a two-year long investigation into a loan issued by the South African Reserve Bank to Bankorp (a bank later taken over by ABSA).[9] Other banks were drawn into the controversy. Supporters of the CIEX Report characterised this as the theft of R26 billion from the state during the apartheid era. A specific allegation is that FNB unlawfully received hundreds of millions of Rands from the SARB, disguised as 'lifeboats' for covering bad loans.[10]

The then-Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, issued a report which in essence validated the CIEX report and ordered the Reserve Bank to take remedial action.[11] However, the Reserve Bank took the report on review to the high court, which set aside the report and ordered Mkhwebane to pay the costs of the Reserve Bank in her personal capacity [12] (by the time the matter came to court Mkhwebane had consented to the report being set aside, and argued only that costs should not be awarded against her personally). The Constitutional Court confirmed the decision of the high court to set aside the Public Protector's report unanimously, and by a majority that Mkhwebane should pay costs personally.[13]

The mishandling of this case was one of the factor's that led to Mkhwebane's impeachment.[14] Despite these findings, the controversy was revived after major South African Banks closed the bank accounts of Sekunjalo group companies. Sekunjalo and newspapers that it owns criticised these banks on many grounds, including their alleged malfeasance in this case.[15]

Safety deposit box victims

During September 2015 it was reported in the Sunday Times that FNB stated "a small number" of safety deposit boxes were stolen from the Sunnyside branch in Pretoria.

Later in the same year, 360 boxes were stolen in a daring overnight break-in at the Randburg, Johannesburg branch.

On New Year's Eve, the third and final break-in occurred at the FNB Parktown branch. It was reported at the time that the value was approximately R1.7 Million out of 30 deposit boxes in the branch.[16]

In 2018, reports surfaced that 60 victims were going ahead with a damages claim against First National Bank (South Africa) reported to amount to R121 Million.[17]

type	Division
traded as	jse: FSR
revenue	R127billion
revenue year	2024‡R1R‡
net income	R39.7billion
net income year	2024‡R1R‡
assets	US$131.3billion
assets year	2024‡R1R‡
foundation	1838
location	Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa
area served	South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia
key people	Harry Kellan (CEO)‡R2R‡
num employees	40,000
num employees year	2024‡R3R‡
industry	Commercial banking
products	Financial services
parent	FirstRand
homepage	https://fnb.co.za

First National Bank (South Africa)

Overview

History

FirstRand Group

Controversies

CIEX Report

Safety deposit box victims

See also

External links

References