'People added a 3rd or 4th job.' FNB praises 'resilient' clients after opening lending taps

After taking a conservative approach for two years, FNB and its sister companies in the FirstRand stable opened the lending taps in 2022.

FirstRand grew core advances by 11% across the group, with RMB writing 25% more loans than in 2021. FNB Commercial followed with a 10% growth. WesBank and FirstRand's UK operations grew new loans by 9%, followed by FNB retail and FNB operations in the rest of Africa at 7%.

FirstRand promised shareholders to get back into the game last year when it became clear that its competitors had been eating its lunch in the lending space.