Business Talk – In conversation with James Formby

James Formby is chief executive officer of RMB, a division of FirstRand Bank – a position he has held since 2015.

Formby began his journey as an undergraduate at the University of Cape Town and finished his BCom (Hons) in 1991. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant (CA)(SA) a year later.

He completed his accounting articles at Deloitte and Touche in Johannesburg and then completed an MPhil in Management Studies at Cambridge University.

Formby joined RMB in 1997 as a corporate finance transactor and later became a team leader. His transactional skills and ability to structure large deals made him a core member in many key BEE transactions, IPOs, de-listings, Mergers & Acquisitions and disposals.

In 2009 James was appointed deputy head of RMB’s Investment Banking division, followed by a promotion in 2010 to head of coverage. He was also appointed to the RMB Management and Proprietary Boards at the time.

In this episode of Business Talk with Michael Avery, Formby talks through the resilience of RMB in managing a pandemic like Covid-19, and the lessons that he has taken away from managing this crisis.

The financial services expert also shares his thoughts on how banks will emerge from Covid-19, and what they might look like in the future.

Formby shares his concerns about the macro economic outlook for South Africa, but also sheds some light on where he thinks the green shoots are, to drive the country forward.

The full interview is embedded below. You can find all the Business Talk with Michael Avery interviews here.