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Disadvantages Of First National Bank

Decent Essays

Question 1
First National Bank (FNB) a division of First Rand Group
The South African banking industry is recognised worldwide for their conservative, yet successful banking model, supported by sound regulatory and legal frameworks. The sector comprises of one central bank (The South African Reserve Bank – SARB), 4 large banks, investment institutions and a host of smaller banks, both local and international. FNB form part of the 4 large banks and held a 20% market share in 2014 (Graph 1).
According to Grant (2016:66), “the profits earned in an industry are determined by three factors
• the value of the product to customers
• the intensity of competition
• the bargaining power of industry members relative to their suppliers and buyers”.
Using …show more content…

With the smallest footprint of their three biggest competitors, the bank chose to differentiate their services based on mobile banking channels. These channels were more cost effective for both the bank and the customer which fit well with the bank’s philosophy of being the cheapest bank in South Africa and offered the opportunity for more margin absorption if they could change the customer’s behaviour towards these channels. By consequence, the choice to differentiate on mobile channels required competencies that relate to technology. Both of these choices required innovation; to make switching less cumbersome, exploitation of existing processes and technology was required, and to enhance their value proposition they required radical innovation. Over time, FNB’s strategic agility led to the deliberate incentivisation of customers to use mobile channels and the subsequent development of the “customer ecosystem” strategy.
Consistently being the cheapest bank in South Africa, FNB pricing strategy of increasing below official inflation rates has ensured price competitiveness within the South African consumer banking market. Their business model includes an extensive array of rewards for customers that returns value to their customers in the form of e-bucks (points earned through point of purchase spending that are converted into tradable currency with selected retailers in South Africa), fuel cash back rewards and data rewards through their FNB Connect product

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