FirstRand partners with Fiserv to drive digital transformation with Finxact

February 6, 2025

FirstRand Group, one of Africa’s largest financial institutions, has partnered with Fiserv, a leading global provider of financial services technology, to accelerate its digital transformation.

The collaboration marks a significant step as FirstRand becomes the first financial institution outside the United States to implement Finxact, Fiserv’s cloud-native core banking solution. The move is designed to enhance the bank’s speed to market, support innovation, and improve the customer experience across its franchises, FNB and RMB.

The partnership aims to equip FirstRand with a modern, flexible, and real-time banking platform that will support its broader innovation initiatives. As banks worldwide embrace digital transformation and embedded financial services, Finxact will provide FirstRand with the capability to develop highly personalised digital banking experiences.

FirstRand, which operates in South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and the UK, has a diverse portfolio of financial services businesses, including FNB (retail and commercial banking), RMB (corporate and investment banking), WesBank, Aldermore, and Ashburton.

Fiserv, a Fortune 500 company and a global leader in financial technology, offers solutions across payments, digital banking, e-commerce, and merchant processing. I

FirstRand chief digital officer Kevin Mitchell said, “As customer expectations evolve, Finxact provides a modern, flexible system that enables greater innovation and the ability to deliver personalised solutions at speed. After evaluating multiple options, we found that Finxact stood out as the preferred platform to deliver this level of agility and support the evolving needs of the business.”

Fiserv EVP and head of EMEA Katia Karpova said, “We are thrilled that FirstRand is the first financial institution outside of the U.S. to move to Finxact, a trusted partner for a major modernisation.

“We see big opportunities for Finxact in the EMEA region, as banks aim to enhance their digital transformation.”