Leadership Insights Blog by Peter Alkema

This article is an excerpt from a white paper co-authored by Peter Alkema and Dr Jeff Yu-Chen from Gibs University. In a recent Harvard Business Review article titled ’Big Companies Should Collaborate with Startups’, the author outlined the rationales and how imperative it is for the large organisations to partner with emerging entrepreneurs. The new …

Fostering cooperation with start-ups Read More »

This article is an excerpt from a white paper co-authored by Peter Alkema and Dr Jeff Yu-Chen from Gibs University. Increasing competition in the financial services sector has motivated South African banks to embrace Agile and DevOps methodologies. Agile is an approach that emphasises the product development process with quick, iterative product development. Through the …

Embracing agile with zeal Read More »

This article is an excerpt from a white paper co-authored by Peter Alkema and Dr Jeff Yu-Chen from Gibs University. Marcel Proust famously said: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes,” and the banking sector leadership will be compelled to review how they do business. Banks …

New eyes on services re-design Read More »

This article is an excerpt from a white paper co-authored by Peter Alkema and Dr Jeff Yu-Chen from Gibs University. As stated in the previous section, employees can make profound contributions towards a company’s innovativeness. In fact, none of the above-stated recommendations can be realized without a new breed of talents – those who are …

Invest in talent Read More »

This article is an excerpt from a white paper co-authored by Peter Alkema and Dr Jeff Yu-Chen from Gibs University. Successful banks have managed to create ecosystems around their customers that touch many more aspects of their lives than just financial. These banks aim to become partners for people and businesses throughout their life stages. …

Banking goes beyond money Read More »

Loads of “cool stuff” outcomes in the last month helped drive collaboration, skills and awareness across FirstRand. Over 2000 people were involved with Wethinkcode, FNB Codefest, Africa DevOps Day, Ideation Day, Leadership Conference, Masterclasses and Xfest. Aki Anastasiou on CNBC Africa talks to FNB about FirstRand’s “tech month” including Codefest, DevOps Day, Xfest and much more …

FirstRand Tech Month is a wrap; how we energised our IT and innovation community Read More »

African entrepreneurs taking on Silicon Valley got their big break at this year’s MTN Business Aspiring Innovators Programme. In its second year, the main event took place at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo Africa 2016, arguably the world’s most important gathering of CIOs and senior IT executives. According to Gartner, CEOs globally are expecting an 80% uplift …

Innovation In Business; How to Thrive Despite the Threats Read More »

People and businesses will always need banking, but will they always need banks? This question is driving a wave of disruption and new thinking in the industry. Discovery has announced plans to enter the local retail banking market; telco and tech companies are making similar moves. Fintech is offering completely new ways of doing business and customers are …

Banking under siege by new entrants and new technology; inflection point or Kodak moment? Read More »

More than 200 tech leaders from FNB, RMB, Wesbank, Ashburton and Corporate Centre convened on Zebula Bush Lodge for a couple of days to grapple with the forces driving the industry. Strategic suppliers were on hand to advise on the latest topics such as big data, cognitive computing, digitisation, cyber security and blockchain. Conference attendees enjoyed networking with colleagues …

FirstRand IT Leadership Conference: Industry insights for the future of banking Read More »

Corporate sponsors of Africa’s first peer to peer coding academy have secured their students for a 4 month WeThinkCode internship in 2017. Telkom, Derivco, RMB, Britehouse and BBD were among the top South African IT employers vying for the cream of the crop at the sponsor day held in central Johannesburg recently. Recruiters pulled out all the stops to …

WeThinkCode Launches 2017 Internship Read More »

FNB Codefest 2016 Kicks Off…. in Virtual Reality. Spring Day (and a solar eclipse!), ideation and Fintech were key themes of the full day session where innovators from across FirstRand talked about how they are disrupting their businesses. [Watch further below: Our kick off for Day 0 Ideation was recorded in 360 degrees of three dimensional Virtual Reality …

FNB Codefest: Ideation Day Read More »

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) is responsible for banking regulation in South Africa and various Acts provide the legislative framework. To operate as a retail bank requires a license which is subject to the requirements of the SARB and a rigorous approval process. Requirements include holding sufficient capital to ensuring anti-money laundering processes, as well as putting …

Retail Banking and Fintech Read More »