First National Bank (FNB) has received the 2025 National Financial Ombud Scheme of South Africa (NFO) Excellence Award for its industry-leading commitment to fair customer treatment and excellence in dispute resolution. The award recognises the bank with the highest average score in South Africa across three criteria: quality of response, response time, and fairness, among South Africa’s largest banks.
In disbursing this award, the NFO also looks at the Conduct Standard for Banks in relation to the provision of financial products and financial services, awarding it to the bank that it believes conducts its business in a manner that prioritises fair treatment of customers. FNB CEO Harry Kellan says: “One’s money, home, businesses and investments are all deeply personal, and we hold ourselves to a very high standard to give our customers the sense of confidence in FNB, that they deserve. The principles of Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) are built on transparency, trust, respect, and accountability. And, because it affirms our commitment to these principles in every customer interaction, we are proud to lead with integrity and measurable impact on this front.”
This accolade comes on the heels of FNB’s year-on-year improvements across key metrics:
· 10% reduction in formal NFO complaints
· 12% reduction in premature NFO complaints
· 43-day average turnaround time for formal NFO complaints, beating the industry average of 52 days
· 28% conversion rate of premature complaints to formal, significantly better than the industry’s 44%
· 84% of rulings in favour of FNB, compared to the industry average of 79%
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“At the heart of FNB’s promise of help is its willingness to continually listen to, learn from, and lead our customers with integrity,” concludes Kellan.
FNB continues to invest in customer engagement through multiple channels, including its industry-leading Secure Chat feature on the free FNB Banking App, its contact centres, branches, and relationship banking teams.
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