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FNB takes over Pointbreak, launches Ashburton

FNB takes over Pointbreak, launches Ashburton

By the end of this week, Josephat Mwatotele will be an FNB employee, exactly one year after he started as the CEO of Pointbreak, a financial services group founded by current First Lady, Madame Monica Geingos.

FNB Namibia Holdings, the appointed suitor of Pointbreak and its banking arm EBank, announced late last week all regulatory requirements have been fulfilled for FNB to acquire 100% shareholding in the two entities.

“All regulatory requirements for FNB Namibia Holdings to acquire 100% of Pointbreak and EBank, have been met successfully and approval for the deal has been granted by Namfisa, the Bank of Namibia, the Competition Commission and the South African Reserve Bank. The transaction will therefore be effected at the end of March 2017” according to FNB.

Pointbreak manages in excess of N$8.5 billion of third party capital while EBank delivers mobile banking to mostly rural clients at retail Point of Sale.

FNB Namibia Holdings, through its South African parent, the FirstRand Group, also intends to launch Ashburton Investments locally, a move which it describes as to the advantage of existing Pointbreak investors. “Clients of Pointbreak will receive access to the wider range of investment products and financial services offered by FirstRand, as well as continue to receive the expert advice and support of Pointbreak’s Namibian team, FNB and Pointbreak said in a joint statement.

Mwatotele commented “There are many synergies between Pointbreak, EBank, FNB and Ashburton Investments and we look forward to unlocking these synergies for the benefit of our long standing Namibian client base. We are confident that the transaction will allow us to broaden our wealth and investment management offering even further, and excited about the many opportunities presented by the large footprint and infrastructure provided by the FNB Namibia group for our whole team.”

Regarding EBank’s role after the take-over, FNB said they have a similar vision as the small digital bank, to make a neglegted segment of the market profitable by using digital banking platforms that are based on digital mobile technology and runs on the concept of self-service.

“The partnership will eventually enable the activation of FNB’s eWallet to EBank’s client base, with the ultimate goal of providing convenient and affordable banking services to all Namibians, even in areas that can not be serviced through a branch network” FNB said.

The CEO of FNB Namibia, Sarel van Zyl said “We are extremely pleased that the market sees the potential of this acquisition as beneficial to Namibia. Our customers are the reason for our existence, and the expansion of our ability to better meet their needs whether at grass roots level or at high-end investments level, will enable us to continue to deliver sustainable benefits to our staff, customers and shareholders.”

About The Author

Musa Carter

Musa Carter is a long-standing freelance contributor to the editorial team and also an active reporter. He gathers and verifies factual information regarding stories through interviews, observation and research. For the digital Economist, he promotes targeted content through various social networking sites such as the Economist facebook page (/Nameconomist/) and Twitter.