WORLD FINANCE MAGAZINE March 2020
Your top money sense magazine of 2020
VISION 2025
Turning
Dreams
into reality
What
started more than 100 years ago in a small building in Luderitz, is today Namibia’s leading company and includes some of the strongest brands in FNB, RMB, WesBank and Ashburton. The FNB Namibia Group (the Group) is the preferred and trusted financial services partner to both public and private business and has continued to be the firm favourate of the Namibian consumer.
In the words of Sarel van Zyl, the CEO of the Group
“After ten years of outstanding financial performance during which time the Group received the Banker of the Year award in six consecutive years, a new dream was crafted early in 2015, when the senior leadership team met to discuss the way forward. At the meeting they asked themselves the question: where to from here? The answer was simple: in future an equal focus on People, Planet, Partnerships and Profit (also referred to as the 4Ps) will be required. A strategy which was implemented immediately and which has resulted in the Group moving to new levels in all four P’s and thereby securing prosperity for the next generation.”
Where it all started: The Deutsche Afrika-Bank, Luderitz, shortly after its completion by Albert Bause in 1907. After having served the National Bank and Barclays Bank for some 34 years, it was sold in the mid 1950s after it become to costly to maintain. In 1979 it was proclaimed a national monument, and is once again used as a bank.
Five years later, the FNB Group can be very proud as it reflects on its journey to success in Namibia; setting the benchmark in providing financial services and now proudly featuring among the top 50 best financial service providers on the African continent while it remains the largest financial services group in Namibia. Tripling the bottom line profit before tax from the then N$1bn to N$3bn in just 5 years is a phenomenal achievement given the small economy and the increasing number of competitors. The Group’s Corporate Social Responsibility focus have made a significant impact on the Namibian people and marginalised communities while its contributions to the environment have won international recognition.
People
The
Group successfully transformed its human capital into a major differentiator by developing a diverse, highlyskilled–and motivated team, inspired by a high-performance and innovation-driven owner-manager culture. This created a conducive and harmonious environment where employees willingly and enthusiastically used their skills to build this success story. In doing so, a high performance culture was created driven by the values entrenched in the Group.
In the words of Andrew Kanime,
the Group Human Capital Executive Officer
“We were delighted to receive the award for the best company to work for the past 3 years in succession, but it is even more gratifying that our employees refer to the FNB Group as their home and are all excited about career opportunities across the FNB, RMB, WesBank and Ashburton brands. We continue to be inundated with applications from Namibia’s top school-leavers and graduates.” He continues by confirming that: “A strong leadership culture has been developed at all levels of the organisation and many of our employees are now co-owners of the NSX listed FNB Namibia Holdings, both through the employee share option scheme and through personal investment in these shares. Some have moved on to different leadership challenges and opportunities in the Namibian economy but still proudly hold their shares in Namibia’s premier and best performing listed company. Today, we proudly share with you that our diversified and very engaged workforce enthusiastically participate in creating value, both as co-owners and as leaders of this great business.”
PEOPLE
Power to the
PLANET
FNB Group gives back
Hope
to the communities
The
Group is internationally and locally celebrated for its significant role in community development and in cultural and ecological conservation. They partner with communities, non-governmental organisations and with likeminded corporates to bring about social and community upliftment, preservation of our cultural heritage and protection of fauna and flora to create a better future for all Namibians. The Group was the first to build and operate a 4-star green building in Namibia in 2015, the first to run a paperless bank, as well as being the first to offer end-to-end digital banking platforms, inclusive of loyalty rewards to its clients. The Group subscribes to the highest international environmental standards in all its operational and funding activities and contributes financially and in kind, through active staff volunteerism, to many of Namibia’s community, heritage, and environmental support programmes. One such initiative is where the employees of the Group planted and nurtured 2,300 of the endemic Acacia Tortillas trees, which is symbolic of FNB as the most trusted brand in Namibia. Today this symbolises the wide reach and deep roots of the Group’s points of presence across Namibia. Building on the importance of protecting our natural resources, it reduced its carbon footprint by utilizing renewable energy in most of its 60 branches.
The Group is specifically proud of the pay-offs from its education programmes through the development of educational facilities throughout the country changing the lives of thousands of learners and recruiting many scholars to become employees of the Group. Continuously extending its reach by using world class technology and coupled with traditional banking, they banked large numbers of the previously unbanked population. In doing so, they supported the Government Vision 2030 by supporting employment creation. Proudly Namibian is epitomized, not only by its active membership of Team Namibia, but also by the Group’s outstanding and continuous efforts to contribute towards protecting the Planet and its role as a responsible corporate citizen.
Dr. Hage Geingob,
President of the Republic of Namibia “Sustainable economic development is not a luxury, but a requirement to strategically position our economy for this century.”
in partnership
The FNB Group stayed true to its core values by helping customers, families and unbanked individuals to own their first property, first vehicle and first business through flexible valueadding financial solutions. Namibian businesses of all sizes were able to prosper through their partnership relationships with FNB, RMB, WesBank and Ashburton business experts. Being passionate about service excellence, long term value-adding partnerships with all clients are important to them and positioned the Group as the trusted financial services partner. The FNB Group welcomed its millionth customer a few months ago. Partnering with their clients to create wealth, they contributed to the growth of the Namibian economy at a pace exceeding its neighbours, thus assisting local companies to expand their markets beyond Namibian borders. Many of the landmark infrastructure, resources and energy projects and national development initiatives were financed and facilitated by RMB, which aligned itself with the Geingob Administration’s priorities and development initiatives. The Minister of Finance commended the Group in his budget speech “We are indeed proud that the world’s most innovative bank is in our midst and continued to be the first to deliver to Namibia a variety of new products and services that enhance the financial services experience of all Namibians. This allowed them to cater for the broad spectrum of the community, from cradle to grave, consumer to business and by assuming the role of connecting clients and contributing to Namibia’s development.”
PARTNERSHIP
Strength
PROFIT
Creating
Wealth
FNB Namibia’s sustainability also speaks in numbers. Not only have they added to the economy, the communities and environment they operate in, they have delivered handsome financial profit to their shareholders.
In the words of Oscar Capelao,
the Chief Financial Officer of the FNB Group
proudly announced at their annual financial results presentation for 2020: “We celebrated N$3 billion profit before tax, and delivered a compound shareholder return in excess of 17%” while retaining top of class financial ratios.” During this time, the Group faced strong competition from a multitude of traditional and new competitors, as well as the rapidly changing landscape of banking from “bricks-t- clicks”. The FNB Namibia Group concludes that this success story was made possible by the assistance and support by its stakeholders – the shareholders, customers, regulators, employees and the communities it serves - without whom this remarkable performance would not have been worthy to dream about five years ago
Closure The value created by FNB Namibia stretches beyond the excellent financial return for investors and its leading
role in the financial industry in Namibia, governed by its integrated business approach its impact also extended to people, partners and our planet. The Namibian society can be proud to have such a high performance and responsible corporation as part of its economy and we look forward to celebrate their ongoing innovation and success.