FNBB pivots to fintechs and MNOs

First National Bank Botswana (FNBB) is seeking to collaborate with fintech firms and mobile network operators (MNOs) to accelerate the delivery of financial solutions. The bank acknowledged that it has not been as agile as it should be and has therefore taken a deliberate decision at group level to partner with fintech companies to deliver services more quickly. “We have set ourselves a goal to self-disrupt as we transform. We are looking at technology and data. We are looking at ecosystems and partnerships,” FNBB Deputy CEO Dr. Mbako Mbo said. “Do we have that agility as a bank? We have come to the realisation that we don’t have that agility. Our platform is now ready for partnerships, and that is what we will be doing.” Dr. Mbo said the bank is pursuing partnerships as part of an effort to become faster and more flexible in delivering services. “We have got fintechs that can do things better than us,” he said. “MNOs have been beating us at our game. I don’t want to say if you can’t beat them, join them, but that’s essentially what it means. They’ve been beating us at our game. They are advanced.” He said the bank is exploring new ecosystems and partnerships, including mobile money integration. “Our e-wallet proposition is currently standalone. You really cannot do much with it beyond cash,” Dr. Mbo said. “We are changing that narrative. It will be speaking to other wallets, and customers will be able to do more with what they have in their e-wallet. This is part of our broader e-wallet modernisation journey.” FNBB is also preparing to launch virtual cards, although Dr. Mbo acknowledged the bank is entering the space later than some competitors. “We are probably coming in a bit late, but we are about to launch. The same applies to pay-to-card. It may be a catch-up of some sort, but we are about to go to market,” he said. He added that the bank is also modernising its merchant services platform to allow greater system integration with merchants. “The platform modernisation journey in the merchant services business will introduce capabilities that allow us to integrate systems with our merchants,” he said. FNBB CEO Steven Bogatsu acknowledged that the bank faces increasing competition from non-banking institutions, particularly MNOs, in the payments space. “The MNOs and other fintechs have found an opportunity and they are taking advantage of that opportunity to provide services to our customers,” Bogatsu said. “That is a welcome move, and we should all welcome that.” Despite the competition, Bogatsu said the bank continues to see growth in its financial inclusion initiatives. “If you look at some of the financial inclusion statistics starting with e-wallet, the number of transactions, even in this difficult environment, has improved by about 10 percent,” he said. “The value of those transactions has increased by about 15 percent. There are several product enhancements we will undertake to ensure we continue to capture this area and do not lose ground to the competitive activities we are seeing from MNOs.” FNBB’s Cash Plus agency network grew to just under 2,000 outlets in the past 12 months, representing an 18 percent increase. The number of transactions through these agencies increased by 24 percent, while the value of transactions also rose by 24 percent. “We are very happy about these statistics because, firstly, it allows us to partner with communities as we grow as a bank,” Bogatsu said. “Secondly, it gives us an opportunity to reach our financial inclusion targets without significant investment in infrastructure.” Bogatsu said the bank has also recorded improvements in its retail card environment, with the number of transactions increasing by 8 percent and the value of those transactions rising by 5 percent. “When we go back to the agencies again, the fees paid to agents during this financial period amounted to about P13.9 million,” he said. “The number of transactions improved by 4 percent to 381 million, while the value of those transactions increased by about 9 percent. We have also seen electricity turnover improve by about 4 percent.”

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FNBB pivots to fintechs and MNOs

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