The need to lead in digital, along with stringent regulations and the need for heightened security investments, has made the banking sector one of the biggest spenders on IT – and FirstRand Group, the parent of First National Bank, is no exception.

Total IT spend at FirstRand, which also owns Rand Merchant Bank, for the year ending 30 June 2024 reached R19.3-billion, up 8% from R18-billion in 2023.

This huge spend is only eclipsed by Standard Bank Group, which in the year ended 31 December 2023 spent R23.2-billion on IT. Some R6-billion of Standard Bank’s IT spending went to staff costs, while software, cloud and technology-related costs made up the bulk of the spend, at R12.3-billion.

FirstRand’s technology staff costs account for the bulk of the group’s IT budget, representing 45% of total IT spend at R8.4-billion, up 5% year on year. Computer expenses was the second most significant line item at R5.5-billion, up 15% and accounting for 29% of the total.

Other components of FirstRand’s IT spend include repairs and maintenance of R620-million, software amortisation of R224-million and professional fees of R2.6-billion.

The group’s investments in IT have borne fruit for FNB, whose digital transaction volumes grew by 9% to 801 million. These include transactions in the banking app, online banking and mobile USSD channels.

E-wallet

In South Africa, FNB’s e-wallet offering had 6.4 million active customers (those conducted at least one transaction in the second six months of the financial year). These are supplemented by a further 1.77 million e-wallets belonging to FNB customers for a total of 8.17 million e-wallets.

Read: La-Cell Mouton is new FNB CIO

“FNB’s digital channels continued to deliver solid volume growth in line with its strategy to drive customer take-up of digital interfaces and migration to the FNB app, while increased card activity also resulted in good growth in transactional volume,” FirstRand said. – © 2024 NewsCentral Media