01 Mar 2020

First National Bank of Botswana (FNBB) on Thursday announced positive interim results for the six months that ended on December 31, 2019, including a profit before tax that is up by 13 per cent.

Presenting the results in Gaborone, FNBB chief executive officer (CEO), Mr Steven Bogatsu and chief financial officer (CFO), Mr Luke Woodford said the success during the period under review had to do with improved operational efficiencies and utilisation of digital banking.

Mr Bogatsu said FNBB, which provided commercial banking services, operated alongside subsidiaries, diversified financial services holding company, RMB, vehicle and assert finance company, Wesbank as well as the FNB Foundation, which focused on corporate social responsibility initiatives.

He said FNBB operated 24 branches and two agencies countrywide with more than 500 000 customers, and had achieved growth through their strategic focus on operational efficiencies, digital migration, extending their footprint as well as providing new products and services.

Mr Bogatsu revealed that they had registered greater use of electronic banking platforms, with eWallet volumes increasing by 31 per cent while their Pay 2 Cell went up by 41 per cent and traditional banking methods were on the decline, with the usage of cheques dropping by 19 per cent.

Although FNBB has a strategy to migrate customers to digital platforms, many Batswana are still resistant to change and prefer to transact with hard cash at automated teller machines (ATMs) and deposit cheques in branches, despite the cost per unit for using a branch being higher than digital banking.

In order to encourage electronic banking, FNBB introduced free swipes, eliminating charges for customers in swiping  transactions, and ‘cash-back’ initiatives in the retail space, with P11 million in rewards to those customers who used electronic banking over the past six months.

While stating that in the foreseeable future they did not intend to expand beyond the current 24 branches as they were trying to encourage electronic banking to replace traditional banking, Mr Bogatsu said through the mobile banking initiative Bank on Wheels, FNBB had increased its footprint to an additional 75 additional points of service countrywide.

Administered through partner Cash Plus, the Bank on Wheels initiative allows customers in some remote parts of the country to purchase airtime, electricity, and have access to eWallet, deposit and withdrawal services.

Mr Bogatsu admitted that they had noted through social media that customers were complaining about FNBB bank charges, which he said were part of the strategy to migrate customers to digital banking. 

He said such concerns would be addressed through both customer education but did not rule out an assessment of their charging structure.

While acknowledging that their focus on digital banking could lead to a loss of jobs in the long term, Mr Bogatsu said new opportunities could present themselves to those workers who acquire skills in modern information communications technology (ICT) methods of banking. Ends