Three reasons why it might be good to work for FirstRand
When it comes to looking for a job in banking it is better to aim high. It makes sense to send your application to a bank that is doing well rather than one that has its name in the papers every day for all the wrong reasons – be it profit warnings or leadership issues.
If you are in South Africa you could do a lot worse than looking at the FirstRand group, the country’s second-largest bank, which includes Rand Merchant Bank and FNB, its retail arm. There are three reasons to consider a job with FirstRand. First, it is the analysts’ darling at the moment: they praise its prudent loan provisions, strong capital base and good management. FNB keeps growing its customer base, at a rate of 1,000 people a month who are defecting from rival banks.
Analysts also expect the group’s annual earnings to surge between 16% and 22%: “My expectation is for another good result,” says Adrian Cloete, equity analyst at Cadiz Asset Management in Johannesburg. In the last financial year earnings were up 22% to over 10bn Rand.
The second reason is that FirstRand is fast expanding into Africa into both retail and investment banking. It has just obtained a banking license in Kenya and is looking to make acquisitions in Ghana and Nigeria as well as Kenya. It therefore offers the chance of of a continent-wide career.
The third reason, finally, is that there are several good routes into the organisation. FNB’s graduate development programme runs for one year and, says a spokesperson, “applicants are hired as permanent employees from the very beginning and placed in roles aligned to their academic background and career interests.”
After an initial assessment and a first round interview there is a competency-based interview aimed at finding the right business unit for each candidate. It could be quantitative analysis, product development or strategic marketing, although they say that IT development is a growth area: “with FNB’s ongoing innovations we are constantly in need of IT skills to build new technologies that keep us on the frontline”.
If you are interested in investment banking, Rand Merchant Bank has a graduate scheme called ‘Passport’ with similar conditions, which offers support and career guidance throughout the year. If you have a chartered accountant diploma, finally, you can join FirstRand’s CA training programme, which offers three years of on-the-job experience across different sectors at HQ in Johannesburg. Applications for all schemes must be in by August 31st and orientation begins in January 2013.
