FirstRand Limited
Company typePublic
JSE: FSR
IndustryBanking and finance
Founded1838; 186 years ago (1838) (Founded as the Eastern triocrees Province Bank, now known as the First National Bank)
1998; 26 years ago (1998) (Establishment of the group)
HeadquartersJohannesburg, South Africa
Key people
Roger Jardine
Chairman
Alan Pullinger
Group CEO
ProductsLending, transactional services, investments, insurance, asset management
IncreaseAftertax:US$1.8 billion (ZAR:24.5 billion) (2017)
Total assetsUS$93 billion (ZAR:1217.7 billion) (2017)[1]
Number of employees
44,916 (2017)
Websitewww.firstrand.co.za

FirstRand Limited, also referred to as FirstRand Group is the holding company of FirstRand Bank, and is a financial services provider in South Africa. It is one of the financial services providers licensed by the Reserve Bank of South Africa, the national banking regulator.[2]

Overview

Listed on the JSE and the Namibian Stock Exchange,[3] FirstRand Limited is one of the largest financial institutions in South Africa, and provides banking, insurance and investment products and services to retail, commercial, corporate and public sector customers. In addition to South Africa, the group operates in eight key African countries, namely, Botswana, Namibia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia,[4] Mozambique, Tanzania, Ghana and Nigeria.[5] FirstRand Bank has branches in London, Guernsey and India.[6]

FirstRand executes its strategy through a portfolio of leading financial services franchises; Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), the corporate and investment bank; First National Bank (FNB), the retail and commercial bank; WesBank, an instalment finance provider; and Ashburton Investments, the group's asset management business.

The group has its headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa. FirstRand is one of the five largest banking groups in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.[7]

History

The FirstRand group's history traces back to the 1970s as an investment bank. The group as currently was established on 1 April 1998, through a merger of the financial services interests of Anglo American Corporation of South Africa Limited (now Anglo American plc) and RMB Holdings (RMBH) in order to achieve the objective of a unified financial services grouping.

These financial services interests were First National Bank Holdings, Momentum Life Assurers Limited ("Momentum" now part of MMI Holdings) and the Southern Life Association Limited ("Southern Life") all of which were listed on the JSE.[8] FNB and Southern Life wereconstituted as wholly owned subsidiaries of Momentum which was the vehicle to affect the merger. Momentum changed its name to FirstRand Limited and was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on 25 May 1998 with Anglo American and RMB Holdings holding 20.43% and 25.03% of the authorized capital of FirstRand respectively.[9] Anglo American has since shed its entire shareholding.[10]

Post merger events saw the merging of Rand Merchant Bank and FNB to form FirstRand Bank Limited, with the two units remaining to trade as divisions of FirstRand Bank Limited and the transfer of Momentum's insurance business into that of Southern Life, to form FirstRand Insurance Limited.[9]

FirstRand is listed as a "locally controlled bank" by the South African Reserve Bank, the national banking regulator.[11] The group has subsidiaries in South Africa and in the countries of Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Tanzania, Ghana, Zambia, Nigeria and the UK.[12]

In November 2012, the Central Bank of Nigeria issued the first merchant banking licences in more than a decade to RMB Nigeria and another local firm.[13]

Member companies

FirstRand Group holds its investments through five main subsidiaries. These subsidiaries and their subsidiaries are therefore are members of the FirstRand Group include, but are not limited to the following:[14]

Ownership

FirstRand is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Namibian Stock Exchange. Its major shareholders include:[19]

FirstRand Limited Stock Ownership
Rank Name of Owner Percentage Ownership
1 RMB Holdings1 34.1
2 Remgro2 3.9
3 FirstRand's BEE partners 5.2
4 Institutional and Private Investors on the JSE Limited 56.8
Total 100.00

1→ RMB Holdings large shareholders include Directors and management of RMBH with 10.4%, Remgro with 28.2% shareholding in RMBH and Royal Bafokeng Holdings with a 15% stake in RMBH.

2→ Based on its direct and indirect shareholding in FirstRand, Remgro's effective control of the group is 13.36%

Awards

See also

References

  1. ^ FirstRand – Financial Snapshot
  2. ^ "South African Registered Banks and Representative Offices – South African Reserve Bank". resbank.co.za. Archived from the original on 17 August 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  3. ^ "Firstrand Limited (NSX:FST) | african markets". african-markets.com. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  4. ^ "| South Africa's First National Bank (FNB) To Start Operations in Zambia …". 2 December 2010. Archived from the original on 2 December 2010. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  5. ^ "allAfrica.com: South Africa: RMB Rejig Will Give Investors a Choice". 29 June 2011. Archived from the original on 29 June 2011. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  6. ^ "FirstRand Ltd". 7 June 2012. Archived from the original on 7 June 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2022.
  7. ^ "Africa: Sixteen Local Banks in Africa's Top 100". allAfrica.com. 6 October 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  8. ^ "FirstRand – Abridged Revised Listing Particulars". Imara Investing in Africa. FirstRand Limited. 25 May 1998. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  9. ^ a b "FirstRand Annual 1999 Report" (PDF). FirstRand Limited. 30 June 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  10. ^ "Anglo American disposes of its remaining stake in FirstRand". Press releases. Anglo American plc. 27 January 2004. Archived from the original on 13 July 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
  11. ^ List of Licensed Financial Institutions In South Africa Archived 24 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ "| South Africa's First National Bank (FNB) To Start Operations in Zambia …". Zambianchronicle.com. 27 January 2009. Archived from the original on 2 December 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  13. ^ "Nigeria Cbank issues FirstRand with merchant bank license", Reuters, International, 2012
  14. ^ "FirstRand – Analysis of financial results" (PDF). FirstRand. 31 December 2017.
  15. ^ "FirstRand Bank – Analysis of financial results" (PDF). FirstRand. 31 December 2017.
  16. ^ "First National Bank Botswana Limited". Botswana Stock Exchange. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  17. ^ "Banking & Savings Accounts: Aldermore Bank Financial Solutions".
  18. ^ "About Direct Axis". Direct Axis. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  19. ^ "FirstRand Ltd". firstrand.co.za. Archived from the original on 28 July 2010.
  20. ^ "AWARD WINNERS 2016 | Global Brands Magazine". globalbrandsmagazine.com. 13 February 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2017.

External links

Banks of South Africa
Companies based in Greater Johannesburg
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