FNB has been named the ‘Most Innovative Bank’ of 2016. At the African FinTech Awards (#afta16), a heavyweight panel of judges chose the popular bank over fellow finalists Absa and Standard Bank in the ‘Incumbent Bank’ category. FNB also received the most online votes, taking home the ‘Public Award’ in the same category.
- Also read: Easy Equities wins 2016 African FinTech Awards
- Full coverage of Finance Indaba Africa 2016
- REGISTER for the Finance Indaba 2017 (code FIS2017) or EXHIBIT
The finals of #afta16 took place on 13 October 2016 during the Finance Indaba Africa at the Sandton Convention Centre. Three finalists per category were given the opportunity to deliver a three-minute 'pitch' in which they could explain why they were deserving of the award. Criteria included innovativeness, brand, user interface, performance and results. Earlier finalists in each of the categories had been selected by the judges and a weighted score of public votes. There were 25 banks nominated in the 'Incumbent Bank' category.
The panel of judges for the banking category consisted of moderator Jay Thomson (Chief Digital Officer of Wealth Migrate), Georg Ludviksson (CEO of Meniga), Fred Baumhardt (CEO of Curve), Tobie van Zyl (CEO of Bettr), Johan Bosini (Managing Director of Jumo), Rahul Jain (CEO of PeachPayments) and Katlego Maphai (CEO of Yoco).
Here are some of the judges' remarks about FNB:
"They have put distribution into customers hands through mobile devices instead of trying to get customers to branches. Their great, early strategy has lead them to be 'The Digital bank' of South Africa. I personally bank with FNB. They are very costly, but value is provided. Personal service experience is great."- "I love the resolve to go into a space others have only spoken about - becoming an MVNO. At face value this is the SA bank with the biggest focus on mobile and digital. When the SIM toolkit is fully optimised this is one to watch."
The video of the pitch will be available soon on www.fintech-africa.com.
