Post a number of years of declining relative service offering and profitability in Mozambique, the past few years have prompted some serious reflection for FNBM. We needed to strategize on how to best position ourselves to be the go-to bank for our chosen areas of focus; not necessarily the biggest, just the best.
Both the FirstRand Group and FNBM are committed to growing our presence in the country and making a positive impact on the economy and the communities in which we operate. This calls for a constant, conscious focus on our clients and digitisation of our products and services.
When it comes to serving our Clients, our bankers are reminded to operate as if they work directly for them as a first-line, and not for the bank. In short, we want to make every decision a Client-focussed one. This is underpinned by some challenging targets in terms of Client interaction, transactional growth, balance sheet repositioning and profitability. This really requires the bank to understand key Client groups deeply and provide solutions that suit their needs, not only those that fit the bank’s current offering. We are beginning with the good old-fashioned basics – simplicity at the client interface, operational efficiency and safety. This is easy to say on paper, but it takes strategic clarity, cultural buy-in across the bank and the right processes and infrastructure to get it right, sustainably.
The corporate and commercial sectors are the primary areas of focus for the bank, but we are also fully expecting our retail business to surprise both clients and ourselves on the upside. While our presence in the Mozambican market may still be young, we are part of a larger group that gives us access to the cross-border expertise required to bring the best solutions to our Clients.
FNBM’s digital rollout is an important strategic driver for us. A fairly hard-hitting survey indicated that FNBM is neither seen as innovative nor solutions orientated, and not as good as we can be in understanding the market. This is counter-cultural for the FirstRand Group, so we have made it a priority to address these challenges.
FNB is currently present across the country in most provinces but the need to reach further and closer to our Clients requires our focus and investment on digital services, therefore we are in the process of making material changes to the operating platform of the bank, with some very positive changes on the digital front that will make banking easier and simpler, by the end of this year. On the Client front, we will work with our Clients in the journey of moving to a digital banking experience with us. This has got to be win-win for both the Client and the bank.
We believe that the culture of the bank, and collaboration within it, is likely to be a key differentiator for the Client in a market with very little product differentiation. A lot of effort is going into getting this right (and we have made significant strides so far). Our recruitment process is focusing on this as a core requirement alongside getting highly skilled people. We are looking to be the banking employer of choice in the next couple of years. It is a big ask as there are good banks amongst our competitors, but we do believe that this is possible. One of our biggest Client and Employee innovations is to look to have bankers that don’t need to be office-bound but are empowered to get out on the road and connect with our valued Client base.
This is a time of recovery for the Mozambiquan economy, rich with the potential to develop the financial sector and business landscape. As a bank, we hope to assist both regulators and larger corporates in developing a good financial and capital markets space in the next 3 – 5 years. We believe this will offer alternative investment vehicles for investors as well as contribute to the sustainability of the economy in the long term. In pursuit of all of the above, we are prepared to dig deep and transform ourselves to transform the economy and carry on asking the hard questions. The journey is underway.
