eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer
Listed financial services group, FBC Holdings Limited, says it targets to fully embed digitalisation in all its business operations as it forges ahead with its digitalisation journey, in line with market needs and global trends.
This is expected to boost efficiency, according to the group, while also keeping abreast with the current trends that have also been spurred by the Covid-19 pandemic, which pushed businesses to go digital.
According to chairman, Herbert Nkala, the digitalisation drive keeps the business competitive whilst mitigating the risk of financial disintermediation.
“The group views the advent of new technologies as an opportunity for growth as it challenges the organisation to deploy better solutions for improved market reach and customer experience,” he said in an update for the year to December 31, 2022.
“Notwithstanding the environmental challenges and evolving customer needs, the group has continued to upgrade its digital channels and processes to improve underwriting, lending and transactional capabilities, as well as lowering costs.
“FBCH continues to develop solutions and products in-house, whilst also partnering with tech-driven organisations, in its quest to build a comprehensive and inclusive ecosystem,” he said.
Market watchers have also guided the group to cash in on the digitalisation drive this current year and going forward.
“We expect the group to keep expanding its digitisation initiative thus adding an extra boon to net fees and commission income line,” said brokerage firm IH Securities.
For the past financial year, net fee and commission income was up 356 percent to $12 billion, compared to the prior year as the group banking subsidiaries continued to register transaction volumes growth in the payments space, leveraging on its investment in digitalisation.
FBCH started its transformation journey a few years ago, owing to changing customer expectations, cutthroat competition, increasing regulatory complexity, cost pressures, and technological advancements.
The group considers technology to be a key factor going into the future, as it is critical to delivering a convenient and superior customer experience.
In line with this, the group already has an in-house fintech that, in conjunction with business units, drives innovative solutions in its quest to provide “excellent” service to customers and lower the cost of service.
“The group also remains committed to customer satisfaction through linkages between digital initiatives, strategy, and business facilitation,” said Nkala.
Its digitalisation drive has also seen the enhancement of electronic channels, with self on-boarding being extended to MasterCard products.
According to the group, the internet banking platform remains a key service delivery channel and has been undergoing upgrades to adapt its functionality to the evolving needs of valued customers.
FBCH has also increased its presence in the market through the injection of modern Point of Sale (PoS) machines with the latest application and communication technology to make transacting as seamless as possible.
“Significant investment has been made in business continuity infrastructure. An enhanced connectivity project was completed between FBC’s data centre and its disaster recovery site during the year under review,” said group chief executive Dr John Mushayavanhu.
