FirstRand Limited, also referred to as FirstRand Group is the holding company of FirstRand Bank, and is a financial services provider in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. It is one of the financial services providers licensed by the

Reserve Bank of South Africa The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is the central bank of South Africa. It was established in 1921 after Parliament passed an act, the "Currency and Bank Act of 10 August 1920", as a direct result of the abnormal monetary and financial condit ...

, the national banking regulator.

Overview

Listed on the JSE and the Namibian Stock Exchange, 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 Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its n ...

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a population ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Tog ...

and

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. FirstRand Bank has branches in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. 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 Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

, South Africa. FirstRand is one of the five largest banking groups in South Africa and

sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...

History

The FirstRand group's history traces back to the 1970s as an

investment bank Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

. 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 Anglo American plc is a British listed multinational mining company with headquarters in London, England. It is the world's largest producer of platinum, with around 40% of world output, as well as being a major producer of diamonds, copper ...

) and

RMB Holdings RMB Holdings Limited (RMBH), previously known as Rand Merchant Bank Holdings, is a South African diversified financial services holding company. Overview RMB Holdings is listed on the JSE with its headquarters in Sandton, South Africa. Hi ...

(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. 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. Anglo American has since shed its entire shareholding. 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.'''' '' FirstRand is listed as a "locally controlled bank" by the

South African Reserve Bank The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is the central bank of South Africa. It was established in 1921 after Parliament passed an act, the "Currency and Bank Act of 10 August 1920", as a direct result of the abnormal monetary and financial condi ...

, the national banking regulator. The group has subsidiaries in South Africa and in the countries of

and the UK. In November 2012, the

Central Bank of Nigeria The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is the central bank and apex monetary authority of Nigeria established by the CBN Act of 1958 and commenced operations on 1 July 1959. The major regulatory objectives of the bank as stated in the CBN Act are ...

issued the first merchant banking licences in more than a decade to RMB Nigeria and another local firm.

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: * FirstRand Bank Limited –South Africa – provides a comprehensive range of retail, commercial, corporate and investment banking services in South Africa and offers niche products in certain international markets. : FirstRand Bank has three major divisions which are separately branded, i.e.: ** First National Bank – FNB is the retail and commercial bank division of FirstRand Bank. ** Rand Merchant Bank – RMB is the corporate and investment division of FirstRand Bank. ** WesBank – Is the installment finance division of FirstRand Bank. WesBank is South Africa's largest provider of loans for cars. ** In addition to the three divisions, FirstRand Bank has branches in London, India and Guernsey, and representative offices in Kenya, Angola, Dubai and Shanghai. * FirstRand Investment Holdings Proprietary Limited (FREMA) – 100% Shareholding – South Africa – A holding company for FirstRand Group's financial services companies in the rest of Africa and other emerging markets. Subsidiaries held through FREMA include: **FirstRand International (Mauritius) – 100% Shareholding –

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

– A holding company for African investments. **First National Bank Botswana Limited – 69% Shareholding –

– A commercial bank providing retail and corporate banking. The bank is listed on the

Botswana Stock Exchange The Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) is a stock exchange located in Gaborone, Botswana. The Botswana share market was established in 1989 and became the Botswana Stock Exchange in 1994. It is governed by thBotswana Stock Exchange Act The BSE has 36 ...

. **First National Bank of Ghana Limited – 100% Shareholding –

– A commercial bank providing retail and corporate banking. **First National Bank Lesotho Limited – 100% Shareholding –

– A commercial bank providing retail and corporate banking. **First National Bank Mozambique Limited – 90% Shareholding –

– A commercial bank providing retail and corporate banking. **First National Bank Namibia Limited – 58% Shareholding – Namibia – A commercial bank providing retail and corporate banking. The bank is listed on the

Namibia Stock Exchange The Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) ( af, Namibiese Effektebeurs; german: Börse Namibia) is the only stock exchange in Namibia. Based in Windhoek, it is one of the largest stock exchanges on the African continent. It has a partnership with JSE ...

. ***OUTsurance Namibia – 51% Shareholding – Namibia – An insurance company in Namibia. Held through First National Bank Namibia giving the group overall control of 30%.

OUTsurance Holdings OUTsurance Holdings Limited, commonly referred to as OUTsurance, is a subsidiary of OUTsurance Group Limited (OUTsure, a JSE listed entity), a South African based financial services investment holding company. OUTsurance Holdings Limited was fo ...

holds 49% of the venture. **First National Bank Swaziland Limited – 100% Shareholding –

– A commercial bank providing retail and corporate banking. ** First National Bank Tanzania Limited – 100% Shareholding –

– A commercial bank providing retail and corporate banking. **First National Bank Zambia Limited – 100% Shareholding –

– A commercial bank providing retail and corporate banking. **Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria – 100% – Shareholding –

– A corporate and investment bank in Nigeria. * FirstRand International Limited (Guernsey) – 100% Shareholding – holding company for UK banking business: ** Aldermore Bank Plc – 100% Shareholding – UK specialist bank * FirstRand Investment Holdings Proprietary Limited (FRIHL) – 100% Shareholding – South Africa – A holding company for FirstRand Group's other non-banking activities. Subsidiaries held through FRIHL include: ** Direct Axis SA (Pty) Ltd – 100% Shareholding – South Africa – A specialist financial services firm ** RMB Private Equity Holdings (Pty) Ltd – 96% Shareholding – South Africa ** RMB Private Equity (Pty) Ltd – 93% Shareholding – South Africa ** RMB Securities (Pty) Ltd – 100% Shareholding – South Africa ** RMB Morgan Stanley (Pty) Ltd – 50% Shareholding – South Africa – A

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

with

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

. ** RMB Australia Holdings Limited – 100% Shareholding –

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

– An investment bank in Australia. * FirstRand Investment Management Holdings Limited – 100% Shareholding – South Africa – This is the holding company for the group's asset management activities. ** Ashburton Fund Managers (Pty) Limited – 100% Shareholding – South Africa ** Ashburton Investor Services (Pty) Limited – 100% Shareholding – South Africa ** Ashburton Management Company (Pty) Limited – 100% Shareholding – South Africa ** Ashburton Investments International Holdings Limited – 100% Shareholding – South Africa ** RMB CIS Management Company (Pty) Limited – 100% Shareholding – South Africa * FirstRand Insurance Holdings (Pty) Ltd – 100% Shareholding – South Africa – This is the holding company for FirstRand's insurance businesses. Subsidiaries held through FirstRand Insurance Holdings include: ** FirstRand Life Assurance – 100% Shareholding – South Africa ** FirstRand Short-Term Insurance Limited – 100% Shareholding – South Africa ** FirstRand Insurance Services Company (FRISCOL) – 100% Shareholding – South Africa

Ownership

FirstRand is listed on the

Johannesburg Stock Exchange JSE Limited (previously the JSE Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 2003 ...

and Namibian Stock Exchange. Its major shareholders include: 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

*''Best Banking Performer, South Africa'' in 2016 by Global Brands Magazine Award.

References

External links

* {{Banks of South Africa 1998 establishments in South Africa Publicly traded companies Banks of South Africa FirstRand Companies based in Johannesburg Banks established in 1998 Financial services companies established in 1998 Companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange South African companies established in 1998