FirstRand Ltd. history, profile and corporate video
FirstRand Ltd. Is a registered bank controlling company, which provides banking, insurance and investment products and services to retail, commercial, corporate and public sector customers through its subsidiaries; First National Bank, the retail and commercial bank, Rand Merchant Bank, the corporate and investment bank, WesBank, an installment finance provider, and Ashburton Investments, the Group’s newly-established investment management business. FNB products include mortgage loans, credit and debit cards, personal loans and investment products, and services comprise transactional and deposit taking, card acquiring, credit facilities and FNB distribution channels. Rand Merchant Bank provides diversified financial services and products, encompassing investment banking, fund management, private wealth management and advisory services. The WesBank provides full service installment credit finance to both the retail and corporate market, including asset based finance. The company was founded by Lauritz lanser Dippenaar, G. T. Ferreira and Paul Kenneth Harris in 1970 and is headquartered in Sandton, South Africa.“
“FirstRand History
The FirstRand Group was established in 1998, from a business that started in the 1970s as an investment bank. Today, one of the three founders serves as the non-executive chairman to the group’s board of directors. The Group was formed by the merger of First National Bank, Rand Merchant Bank and Momentum Insurance & Asset Management. It is listed as a “locally controlled bank” by the South African Reserve Bank, the national banking regulator. The Group has subsidiaries in South Africa and in the neighbouring countries of Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho and Zambia. First Rand also has interests in Australia and India. The Group has expressed interest in expanding its operations into Angola, Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania.In May 2012, Kenyan press reports indicated that the group was making plans to expand into Kenya, Rwanda andUganda.
In November 2012, the Central Bank of Nigeria issued the first merchant banking licences in more than a decade to FirstRand Bank and another local firm.”
*Information from Forbes.com and Wikipedia.org
**Video published on YouTube by “FirstRand“