Johannesburg – FNB SA returned a 6% increase in profits before tax underpinned by strong results from its Business and Premium segments. The bank saw good growth in deposits and continued traction in its save and invest strategies. Profits from the operations in the rest of Africa fell on the back of credit issues especially in Zambia and Mozambique due to difficult macro business conditions.
“We are pleased with the 6% growth in the overall domestic customer base, with some 12% growth in overall transactional volumes and especially with the pace at which our digital platforms continue being adopted with app volumes up a respectable 80% year-on-year,” says FNB CEO Jacques Celliers.
FNB had standout performances in its Business and Premium Segments as a result of customer base growth and further entrenchment and share of wallet across the respective segments with Commercial producing a 16% increase in profits.
“A number of exciting product and pricing simplification initiatives have been rolled out during H1 in the lower end of our Consumer Segment offering to streamline our primary bank offering to that market which had a once-off negative impact to our non-interest revenue. But, by deliberately placing customers in simpler and more affordable product and pricing options and stepping up the manner in which we give access to banking services allows us to build stronger relationships for the future,” adds Mr Celliers.
Growth in advances was deliberately slowed across all categories of lending in line with the bank’s more conservative lending stance given the weaker macros with impairment results in line with expectations.
“Looking forward, we can see that improvements in the underlying economy and our vigorous efforts to contain costs for the bank will yield positive outcomes for our customers. We remain committed to our operations in the rest of Africa and to our start-up business in Ghana,” concludes Mr Celliers.