FNB produced a strong set of financial results for the six-month period to the end of 2025, with it recording double-digit profit growth in South Africa. This is remarkable growth for a bank that generated over R15 billion in profit in South Africa during the same period last year.
FirstRand, which owns FNB alongside Wesbank and RMB, revealed this in its interim results for the first half of its 2026 financial year.
The banking group singled out FNB’s strong performance, with the bank continuing to benefit from its cautious approach to lending, with its credit-loss ratio falling to 1.65% and its return on equity surging to 41%.
“This was a result of capital optimisation initiatives, an improving retail credit performance, and non-interest revenue (NIR) growth,” FirstRand explained.
NIR is becoming increasingly vital for South African banks, as they look to enhance their value-added services and increase client engagement to reduce their sensitivity to interest rates.
Furthermore, this revenue is extremely high quality and profitable for a bank, with it consuming relatively little capital in comparison to traditional banking activities, such as lending.
“FNB benefited from strong NIR growth from value-added services offered to its core transactional client base, including FNB Connect, Send Money, eBucks, and nav,” FirstRand said.
Daily Investor
