First National Bank South Africa

First National Bank is the oldest bank in South Africa and traces its origins back to the Eastern Province Bank which was formed in Grahamstown in 1838. Other important predecessor banks are the Bank of the South African Republic (De Nationale Bank der

Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek Beperkt), the Bank of the Orange Free State (De Nationale Bank van den Oranjevrijstaat Beperkt), the leading colonial bank in Natal (The Natal Bank Limited) and one of the leading banks in the Cape (The Bank of Africa Limited).

In 1915 the National Bank opened branches in South-West Africa at Swakopmund, Windhoek, Lüderitzbucht and Keetmanshoop and in 1922 acquired some of the bank premises of the defunct Deutsche Afrika Bank. In June 1918 the Bank took over the banking business of the African Lakes Corporation in Nyasaland (Malawi).

Another landmark development in the Bank's history took place in 1998 when the financial services interests (which included shareholding in First National Bank) of Rand Merchant Bank Holdings and Anglo American were merged to form FirstRand Limited. In the process First National Bank was delisted on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on 22 May 1998 and subsequently became a wholly-owned subsidiary of FirstRand which was listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on 25 May 1998. On 30 June 1999 the formal merger of the banking interests of FirstRand into a single legal entity, FirstRand Bank, took place. Both FNB and RMB now trade as division of FirstRand Bank

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