FirstRand Bank

Brief description of work undertaken:

FirstRand is one of the top three banks in South Africa. FirstRand adopted a global expansion plan starting in the Australian market by establishing a local lending operation from a “Greenfield” base.

IBSA’s initial engagement focused on the development of a strategy and plan based on a strategic analysis of the local environment, regulatory requirements and local opportunities. We advised on, developed, and implemented a portfolio management framework.

The primary objectives given to IBSA by the First Rand Board of Management were to:

  • Establish the ICT strategy for the total operation
  • Provide an architecture for the “core systems” for the business
  • Identify areas of Competitive Advantage to develop and grow the business
  • Identify “quick-wins”
  • Provide an underlying technical architecture and platform that will facilitate the ongoing global growth of the business in a scalable and robust manner.
  • Achieve integration between the core systems and external systems and processes (eg Global ERP, Banking).
  • Leverage IBSA industry experience and best practice
  • Achieve acceptance and support of all stakeholders– within FirstRand, its funding partners and customers.

Complexity of services:

The IBSA Senior Strategy team performed an in-depth study and analysis of FirstRand’s needs, and from that study submitted a strategy recommendation to the Board. It made recommendations of the target platform, proposed in diagrammatic form the proposed solution, and set out the elements of the solution.

The strategy deliverables included:

  • Vision for a single global platform and business model
  • Analysis of industry trends
  • Competitive analysis
  • Overall ICT strategy
  • Architectural Design
  • Portfolio Management Framework
  • Business Continuity and disaster recovery analysis