FirstRand Limited

Is FirstRand publicly traded?
Yes. It trades on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange under ticker FSR and on the Namibian Stock Exchange under FST.

What companies does FirstRand own?
FNB, Rand Merchant Bank, WesBank, Aldermore Bank, MotoNovo Finance, and Ashburton Investments.

When was FirstRand founded?
In 1998, through the merger of Anglo American's financial services interests and Rand Merchant Bank Holdings. Its banking roots through FNB reach back to 1838.

Who is the CEO of FirstRand?
Mary Vilakazi has been group CEO since April 2024.

Is FNB part of FirstRand?
Yes. FNB is a division of FirstRand Bank Limited and the group's largest earnings contributor.

What is the UK motor finance issue?
The FCA's review of historical discretionary motor finance commissions led FirstRand to provision roughly R5.7 billion across fiscal 2024 and 2025 for potential customer redress at its MotoNovo business.

FirstRand emerged in 1998 from one of South Africa's defining corporate restructurings. Anglo American Corporation unbundled its financial services interests and merged them with Rand Merchant Bank Holdings, the merchant bank built by Laurie Dippenaar, GT Ferreira, and Paul Harris, who had founded Rand Consolidated Investments in 1977 and turned it into South Africa's most entrepreneurial financial group. FirstRand Bank became the group's banking subsidiary, housing FNB, Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), and WesBank.

The 2000s were an expansion era. Under the founders' decentralized philosophy, FNB reinvented itself as South Africa's innovation leader, pioneering cellphone banking, the eWallet cash remittance product, and the country's first major banking app. RMB became the dominant domestic investment bank. FirstRand also expanded into the rest of Africa and built the UK lending platform that became Aldermore and MotoNovo.

A parallel listed vehicle, RMB Holdings (RMH), held a large stake in FirstRand and the insurance group Discovery until 2020, when RMH unbundled its FirstRand shares to shareholders, simplifying the structure into today's single listed entity. Long-time CEO Sizwe Nxasana stepped down in 2015 and was succeeded by Johan Burger and then Alan Pullinger. Mary Vilakazi, the former MMI Holdings and Clicks executive, became group CEO in April 2024, the first woman to lead a major South African bank.

Recent history includes two notable headwinds: provisioning for the UK Financial Conduct Authority's motor finance commission review, which cost the group roughly R3.0 billion in fiscal 2024 and a further R2.7 billion in fiscal 2025, and the slow grind of South Africa's economy. Even so, headline earnings reached a record R41.9 billion in fiscal 2025, up 10 percent, with a 20.2 percent return on equity near the top of its target range.

FirstRand publishes an integrated report covering financed emissions, transformation targets under South Africa's B-BBEE framework, and financial inclusion metrics delivered primarily through FNB's eWallet and low-cost accounts. It has committed to reducing fossil fuel financing exposure over time and reports against TCFD-aligned climate disclosure.

The group is not a certified B Corp. Its social license rests heavily on transformation and inclusion metrics, areas where it is a leading JSE reporter, balanced against criticism that its UK consumer lending and legacy fossil finance run counter to its stated positioning.

FirstRand regularly places among the top South African companies in the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies ranking and has won numerous Euromoney and The Banker awards for FNB and RMB, including Best Investment Bank in South Africa for RMB across many consecutive years. FNB has been named the country's most innovative bank by multiple industry surveys.

The group's dominant regulatory issue is the UK motor finance commission matter. Following the FCA's review of historical discretionary commission arrangements in motor finance, FirstRand raised roughly R3.0 billion in provisions in fiscal 2024 and R2.7 billion more in fiscal 2025 against its MotoNovo business, plus associated legal costs. Final redress outcomes depend on FCA rules being finalized through 2026.

In South Africa the group has faced standard large-bank scrutiny: Competition Commission proceedings involving rand trading practices among banks (FirstRand was among banks charged, with matters proceeding through the courts), and periodic public debates over fees and branch closures. These matters are managed within normal provisioning and have not produced franchise-threatening outcomes.