NEDBANK CAPITAl - Nedbank Group Limited

nedbank Retail ... continuedand service delivery are now comparablewith the best in the industry.The unsecured lending of Card andPersonal Loans fared well in 2009,generating headline earnings ofR362 million and R263 millionrespectively and growth on last year, atgood returns on risk-adjusted capital.The earnings reduction in PrivateBanking, Small Business Services andTransactional and Investment Productsis largely as a consequence of lowerendowment income of R412 millionfrom declining interest rates andR124 million from higher impairments,largely home loans.The network and product offering ofRetail is an important generator ofnew business for Bancassurance andWealth, and these important links willbe maintained.The profile of Nedbank Retail earningshighlights the challenge of havinginsufficient transactional income andclients to cushion the high level ofimpairments in a very sizeable advancesportfolio.Notwithstanding these challenges, itis important to remain relevant to ourclients’ needs and continually enhancetheir experience and access to Nedbank.Key investments in 2009 include:• 58 new staffed outlets coveringtraditional branches, personal loansand kiosks in retailers. Nedbank nowhas 109 non-cash outlets that canbe run at lower cost, given differentsecurity requirements.• 270 new automated teller machines(ATMs), with a net of 127 as lessprofitablesites were closed. Insupport of our bank-for-all strategy,65% of new ATMs were deployedin typical mass-market areas. Thiswas complemented by consumereducation projects.• A state-of-the-art client contactcentre opened in Sugar Mill, which isthe home of the great conversationswith Nedbank.• Extending our AskOnce servicepromise to help clients movetransactional accounts hassle-free.• Rolling out new NetBankfunctionality, with internet users/transactions growing at 15%. Highgrowth rates were also noted in ourcellphone banking channel.Our core activity levels evidenced a25% increase in sales of transactionalproducts, with our people being our keydifferentiator.Other key areas of focus are summarisedbelow.Client growthWe have made steady progress ingrowing our client base, attracting some108 000 net new primary clients for theyear (2008: 130 000). Primary clientsnow total 1,3 million, with about 15%being Mzansi clients.Client serviceNedbank Retail has made good stridesover the years in the journey towardsdelivering worldclass service, bothin our internal measure using theCustomer Management AssessmentTool and as evidenced in externalsurveys. During 2009 Nedbank achieveda rating of 66,19 in the Ask Afrika pollof service excellence, the Orange Index,registering an improvement of 0,55 overthe past 12 months. However, whileNedbank made modest improvementsin the latest survey, our competitorshave closed on the previous gaps,leaving us in the fourth position inthe banking industry. Although thecurrent differential between us and ourcompetitors is marginal, we will focus onimproving client experience, especially inrespect of promptness, products suitedto client needs and professionalism.Having held the position of top bank inservice delivery for the past two years,Nedbank Retail is even more focused onimproving its service-related attributesand building on the improvements noted,including its rating of best-in-class channelrating for cellphone banking and delightedclients. Nedbank Group was awarded atop accolade at the 2009 Ombudsmanfor Banking Services Awards for excellingahead of its peers on client disputemanagement and resolution.We are still fully committed to ourAskOnce promise campaign, which isour guarantee to clients that we willcontinuously enhance their bankingexperience with us. During 2009 wesaw the extension of the propositionto include a specific service promise forclients wishing to switch their currentaccounts to Nedbank, with Nedbankundertaking to move their debit ordersfree of charge and hassle-free.Enhanced productivity andexecutionProject Client Information System focusedon improving our data managementcapabilities. We aligned the entire dataplatform infrastructure and created aninterface with the rest of our key productsystems in 2009. We will continueenhancing our data platform with valueaddingservices to improve our datamanagement capabilities.Project Siyakha is focused on deliveringa step change in the systems with whichour sales and service staff interact withclients ultimately to improve service andstaff efficiency. Siyakha is a four-yearphased programme, which began in 2007.The result will be one frontend for sales, inaddition to streamlined and reengineeredprocesses to minimise the impact on bothclients and bankers.Project Hassle-free Move focused ondelivering an efficient solution forswitching clients from other banks toNedbank, which has translated into70NEDBANK GROUP ANNUAL REPORT 2009