NEDBANK
NEDBANK
Taking Its Seat
at SA Banking’s Top Table PRODUCTION: Timothy Reeder
The Nedbank Group is one of South Africa’s four largest banks, and Nedbank Limited stands as its principal banking subsidiary. It specialises in a wide range of wholesale and retail banking services which combine with a growing insurance, asset management and wealth management offering has seen it recently named among South Africa’s most elite brands.
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It is arguably Nedbank’s spirit of innovation, that ability to foresee what it is that will facilitate its customers’ lives with regards banking and beyond, that has remained the most reliable constant across its lifetime. Nedbank’s is a history can be traced back to the early 19th century - 1831 to be precise - with the establishment of the Cape of Good Hope Bank. A number of successive branding and structural changes ensued to allow it to arrive in the position it enjoys today, not least the shift from The Nederlandsche Bank voor Zuid-Africa to the Netherlands
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Bank of South Africa (NBSA) in 1951 to mark its establishment as a South African banking company. The ensuing years have been punctuated by a raft of firsts, whether embodied in NBSA’s introduction of computerised banking services in 1964, or indeed its landmark move to pay interest on current accounts in 1983. The adoption of the Nedcor Group name in 1989 catalysed a subsequent flurry of activity before the new Nedcor Group was formed in 2003, to combine Nedcor, BoE, Nedcor Investment Bank (NIB) and Cape of Good Hope Bank under this single umbrella. 2004 proved
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NEDBANK
to be a watershed year for the group as both structural and strategic changes were implemented, to restore the performance of the group and also lay the foundations for sustainable future growth; not coincidentally, the following year brought with it the rebrand to Nedbank Group Limited. A commitment to innovation and an unerring desire to keep itself ahead of the pack has remained with Nedbank throughout its lifetime and
its many guises along the way, and the Group has long been known for an unfailing ability to embrace the digital and physical sides of the marketplace. It has been crucial for it to direct its policy of innovation toward controlling both of these spheres, in order to meet the demands of a population for which digital services are becoming ever-more important in accomplishing what were once laborious tasks, but which also requires a strong network of branches
in order to benefit from the full banking experience. In recent years, this approach has been embodied at Nedbank by the launch of innovations which have included Nedbank Approve-it™, an interactive secure transaction authentication system and MyFinancialLife™, a free online financial management tool. Small Business Friday™ is an initiative which encourages all South Africans to go
//Be more innovative with Entersekt Entersekt challenges the widely-held assumption that banking-grade security and convenient access stand in opposition to each other. The South African founded global fintech company designs mobile security and user authentication solutions that comply with the most stringent regulations anywhere in the world while making it a lot easier for consumers to protect their accounts and personal information. Digital security is often considered a grudge purchase, a complex and unprofitable prerequisite for doing business online. Service providers fear that it will inhibit their customers rather than improve their experience of on-the-go sharing, shopping and banking. Entersekt reimagines online and mobile security as an enabler, empowering its clients to meet business and regulatory challenges with confidence. Companies that use Entersekt’s products have increased their revenue significantly by expanding their online and mobile services and increasing daily interactions with more convenient and engaging experiences, especially on mobile. Fraud has been effectively eliminated on Entersekt-protected digital channels, even as false declines and abandoned online shopping carts have declined.
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73 Attempts 4 Breaches 18-February 2012
N U M B E R O F C Y B E R AT T A C K S
A proud technology provider to Nedbank Nedbank was the first financial institution to deploy Entersekt’s technology back in 2012. It aimed to expand its digital banking offering and improve its usability without exposing its customers to additional risk of fraud. Entersekt built the bank a world-first interactive transaction authentication system, branded Approve-It, that replaced clumsy one-time passwords with an app-based one-touch process. In doing so, it reduced successful phishing attacks by over 99 percent overnight.
59 Attempts 20 Breaches
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Entersekt’s technology later formed the security platform for the award-winning Nedbank App Suite, which provided a market-leading range of mobile services, from retail and business banking to personal finance management and online stock trading. And, today, Entersekt continues its journey with Nedbank, having secured the bank’s all-new Money app. Learn more about Entersekt’s solutions for strong authentication, transaction signing, mobile app security, biometrics enablement, payments enablement and regulatory compliance. Visit the company’s relaunched website at www.entersekt.com.
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INDUSTRY FOCUS: FINANCIAL SERVICES
out and support local small businesses in association with the National Small Business Chamber, and Nedbank has acted as one of its few platinum sponsors to show its full support of the project. The idea is to prompt what will be a lasting difference in these communities, and across South Africa as a whole, by supporting small businesses and thus reduce rates of unemployment and harvest the entrepreneurial spirit in abundance across the country. More recently, however, the Nedbank thirst for positive change has manifested in the launch of an overhauled banking app with a number of new features, to respond to what is a growing desire on the part of its customers for both convenience and financial peace of mind. The aptly termed Nedbank Money allows
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customers to make instant payments to anyone on their smartphone’s contact list, regardless of whether the recipient is a Nedbank customer, and all while managing their accounts, making payments and changing their credit or debit card settings directly from their smartphone. It is available for both Android and iOS to again provide for the full spectrum of its clients, and sees debit orders, card cancellations, beneficiary payments and much more able to be managed from the app. Nedbank Money also features an interface which monitors spending, debit orders and transactions across all linked cards and accounts, to give customers an overview of their finances and quickly spot and manage any negative habits which may creep in. As
ever, safety is at the forefront of thinking here, and Nedbank customers who download the app will be required to register with either their online banking or credit card details, after which they can activate the notoriously reliable Touch ID or PIN logins in order to protect their valuable data. With this application the latest in a long line of predecessors, and with doubtless more to follow suit, Dave Woolnough, Head: Retail Digital & Mobile at Nedbank explains the clear financial and practical benefits that the quest for digitisation can bring to both bank and customer. “There is a big drive towards digital for a number of reasons,” he begins. “Firstly, it’s about convenience for the client and secondly, it’s about driving down cost for the bank.
NEDBANK
“There is enough investment across the financial industry to acquire more digital technology in a servicing capacity so that customers can almost service themselves. At Nedbank, though, we do still see the branch network as a key part of our strategy in the future but we will be moving more and more towards digital to improve the client experience and client engagement.” This forward-thinking Group reported in September this year the launch of what it it claimed to be South Africa’s first solar branch in Mncwasa, 60km from Mthatha in the Eastern Cape. It aims to provide convenient banking solutions to a community without banking facilities through SolarTurtle, a mobile service provider owned by members of the Mncwasa community, where more than 69% of inhabitants are currently economically inactive, with employment concentrated among teachers and small-scale entrepreneurs. The solar branch will look to enable community members to access financial services such as cashless banking, and make use of digital-payment solutions through Masterpass – another of Nedbank’s digital payment apps which enables faster and safer transactions through its saving of client payment information in a secure digital storage facility. The are no costs associated with using this application, and with over 50,000 businesses set up to accept the payment method, its benefits go without saying. The African Development Bank Group’s overarching mission is to fight poverty and to improve living conditions on the continent, doing so by promoting the investment of public and private capital in projects and programs that are likely to contribute to the economic and social development of the region. The AfDB is a multilateral development finance institution, founded in 1964 and which comprises three entities: The African Development Bank, the African Development Fund and the Nigeria Trust Fund.
The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies which invests in the regional member countries (RMC), and it recently approved a $172 million financial package for Nedbank Group to be put toward infrastructure, banking and housing projects. The package comprises a R2 billion subordinated loan, and a $30 million unfunded Risk Participating Agreement facility that
// THERE IS ENOUGH INVESTMENT ACROSS THE FINANCIAL INDUSTRY TO ACQUIRE MORE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY IN A SERVICING CAPACITY // will benefit African issuing banks in 20 of these regional member countries. According to Nedbank, “the sub-debt will strengthen Nedbank’s balance sheet and contribute towards the realisation of its strategy to finance among other sectors, infrastructure… digital banking and affordable housing.” This news is rather timely, as it will enable Nedbank to grow its asset book as well as increase its visibility as a credible confirming bank for African trade transactions. A research project coordinated by Brand Finance and Brand Africa, in partnership with Brand South Africa, the results of the South African Top 50 most valuable brands were presented this year at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg in July. The most valuable brands on the list are measured by their financial value and consumer perception, with the top spots dominated by financial and telecommunications brands. Nedbank celebrated the significant achievement of cracking this year’s top 10, positioning the company alongside such industry leading names as Standard Bank, FNB and Investec.
Despite the ever-present menaces of recession, political instability and a higher unemployment rate, the total value of the top 50 brands increased 3% year-on-year from R384 billion in 2016 to R395 billion in 2017, according to Brand Finance. Jeremy Sampson, director of Brand Finance Africa, explained that, “[overall in 2016/17], the top 10 South African brands have grown in value by 3%. What did the economy grow by? [Approximately] 1%, maybe less. Brands are out-performing the economy. That is why brands are so important. “South Africa is in many ways typical of an emerging market with an economy founded on natural resources and mining, underpinned by banking and telecommunications. However, when a country is struggling to grow at 1% whilst its brands grow by 3% it says much about the future potential if not interfered with,” Sampson finished, boding exceptionally well for Nedbank’s continued fortunes.
NEDBANK 0800 800 800 @nedbank www.nedbank.co.za
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THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE FOR AFRICA’S INDUSTRY LEADERS
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Issue No.65
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Journey of a
Lifetime
Exclusive interview with CEO Andrew Darfoor ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
Buffalo Coal / Nautic Africa / Grindrod / SAOTA
AS FEAT UR ED IN
ENTERPRISE AFRICA
DECEMBER 2017