FirstRand Adopts Fiserv’s Cloud-Based Banking Platform

FirstRand Group, the largest financial institution by market capitalization in Africa, said Wednesday (Feb. 5) that it will adopt Fiserv’s cloud-based banking platform, Finxact.

Finxact offers enhanced access to data and will improve FirstRand’s ability to create modern and personalized banking experiences, the companies said in a press release.

“As customer expectations evolve, Finxact provides a modern, flexible system that enables greater innovation and the ability to deliver personalized solutions at speed,” FirstRand Chief Digital Officer Kevin Mitchell said in the release.

FirstRand will deploy Finxact in its customer franchises FNB, which is focused on retail and commercial banking, and RMB, which specializes in corporate and investment banking, according to the release.

The cloud-based banking platform will enable FNB and RMB to offer new and innovative products and use their mobile app and internet banking investment, the release said.

Finxact’s modern system of record and transaction processing engine supports all asset classes, currencies and time zones, per the release.

“We are thrilled that FirstRand is the first financial institution outside of the U.S. to move to Finxact, a trusted partner for a major modernization,” Katia Karpova, executive vice president and head of EMEA at Fiserv, said in the release. “We see big opportunities for Finxact in the EMEA region, as banks aim to enhance their digital transformation.”

When U.S. digitally focused bank Live Oak Bank launched its first embedded banking partnership powered by its in-house technology and a Finxact core, its chairman and CEO, James S. (Chip) Mahan III, said the move marked “an exciting start to our embedded banking journey to serve customers across our verticals.”

Fiserv reported Wednesday that its revenue growth continued to be underpinned by its merchant and financial solutions segments in the final three months of 2024.

Looking ahead, the company is guiding for 2025 organic revenue growth of 10% to 15%.

“Generally, we feel good about our ability to continue to grow nicely as we see consumer spending going on and leveraging our very broad distribution channel and variety of verticals that we serve,” Fiserv CEO Frank Bisignano said Wednesday during the company’s quarterly earnings call.