{"id":39830,"date":"2013-06-11T23:52:40","date_gmt":"2013-06-11T21:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=39830"},"modified":"2013-06-12T09:19:59","modified_gmt":"2013-06-12T07:19:59","slug":"we-want-to-get-back-to-number-one-absa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/39830\/we-want-to-get-back-to-number-one-absa\/","title":{"rendered":"We want to get back to number one: Absa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Absa<\/a> CEO of Africa retail and business banking, Craig Bond<\/a> called for the bank to return to its number one position, as it unveiled its “futuristic” paperless branch in Hyde Park, Johannesburg, which it intends to rollout across its territories in Africa.<\/p>\n

In what Absa CEO Maria Ramos<\/a> described as \u201cthe new face of traditional banking\u201d, the refurbished branch includes tech enhancements including quick service kiosks enabling customers to perform self-service banking activities, while a new Qmatic system uses a ticketing system to match a customer\u2019s transactional requirements with the correctly skilled consultant.<\/p>\n

Ramos said that the bank is working on a rollout plan for its branches across the country, and in time, across its 1,200 branches in territories in Africa which includes Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are proud to complement our digital offering with the Hyde Park branch that simplifies customers\u2019 relationship with the bank and makes banking an easier and more enjoyable experience,\u201d Ramos said, adding that it was not only about the new technology, \u201cit\u2019s about the services that come with it\u201d.<\/p>\n

At 31 December 2012, Absa said it had 10.9 million customers, down from 12.1 million in 2011. By March 2013, MoneyWeb<\/a> stated that Absa\u2019s client numbers for retail and business banking in South Africa, had declined to 10.3 million, putting it behind Standard Bank with 10.4 million clients excluding business accounts.<\/p>\n

Speaking at Absa\u2019s new branch unveiling ceremony in Hyde Park on Tuesday evening, Bond said that the new paperless branch would be a model the bank will adopt across Africa, following a proposed merger between the bank\u2019s operations and Barclays with the new entirety to be rebranded as Barclays Africa Limited.<\/p>\n

Ramos outlined the group\u2019s ambition on Tuesday by saying that Absa aimed to be \u201clocally significant, and globally relevant\u201d while also becoming the \u201cgo to bank across the continent\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bond added that most of the bank\u2019s 700 branches across the country would adopt the same looks and feel before the end of the year, and other branches in Africa within the next few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s high time Absa is back,\u201d Bond said, noting the group\u2019s position at the pinnacle in the past. \u201cWe want to be back there again\u201d he said.<\/em><\/p>\n

In May, All Media and Products Survey (AMPS) data on the South African banking sector showed that\u00a0Absa\u00a0retained its position as SA\u2019s largest bank.<\/p>\n

The AMPS results \u2013 based on the \u201cmain bank\u201d population and not specific products \u2013 shows that Absa has retained the largest portion of South Africa\u2019s 23.2 (2012) million banked population, covering 32.9% of the market. This is down from 34.9% in 2011.<\/p>\n

First National Bank<\/a>\u00a0moved down from 25.6% to 25.2%, while\u00a0Standard Bank<\/a>\u00a0saw a 0.4% increase in market share, from 23.5% to 23.9%.<\/p>\n

More on banking<\/h3>\n

Withdrawal fees: SA banks compared<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Best and worst banks in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Biggest SA banks shock<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Absa intends to return to the number one spot in South Africa, a position it surrendered recently to Standard Bank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":5758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[29,3088,739,26,1983,499],"class_list":["post-39830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-absa","tag-amps","tag-first-national-bank","tag-headline","tag-maria-ramos","tag-standard-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39830"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39834,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39830\/revisions\/39834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}