FNB is still Gauteng’s preferred bank

First National Bank has retained Gauteng's most lucrative tender of providing banking services to the provincial government.

The five-year contract means FNB will continue to provide and manage the multibillion-rand centralised banking services account of the province after March 2016.

In addition‚ the company will provide corporate and commercial banking services‚ which include free training and development of officials in all spheres of financial services as required by the province.

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Gauteng's budget will increase from R95.3-billion in the 2015/16 financial year to R103-billion in 2017/18.

FNB will manage all the banking transactions of the provincial government‚ including the payment of salaries of 200000 officials and supplier payments of more than R3-billion per month.

Finance MEC Barbara Creecy congratulated FNB‚ which beat other three commercial banks to the contract.

“I would like to congratulate FNB on this important appointment and we look forward to working with them to ensure both the safekeeping of the province’s resources and the timeous payment of our staff and service providers‚” she said.

FNB achieved the highest points based on a scoring system of the Preferential Procurement Policy Regulations of 2011. Points are allocated in terms of price‚ functionality and broad-based black economic empowerment credentials.

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This score and other matters were debated in the Bid Adjudication Committee (BAC)‚ which conducted a public meeting in the presence of the bidders and interested parties in July.

This BAC session recommended FNB as the preferred service provider.

The report of the BAC and that of an independent probity team were forwarded to the head of department of the Gauteng provincial treasury‚ Nomfundo Tshabalala‚ who took the decision to appoint FNB in line with the recommendations of the BAC.

As the banking partner‚ FNB has committed to implement the following key initiatives:

- Invest R200-million through the Vumela Fund to support the development of township enterprises;

- Work in partnership with Gauteng Enterprise Propeller on incubation of start-up companies; and

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- Assist small‚ medium and micro enterprisess that want to bank with them with online application for EmpowerDex BEE certification at discounted rates‚ use and online interface in order to obtain tax clearance certificates‚ and automated registration for VAT.

The awarding of the banking contract also concludes the open tender pilot process of provincial government.

“The Gauteng provincial treasury will recommend to the Provincial Executive Council that the next phase involves implementing the system in more than 20 key projects valued at over R50-million each by the end of the current financial year. We believe this will go a long way towards restoring public confidence in the government procurement system‚” Creecy said.

The open tender pilot process was launched in November last year. It is based on seven key principles aimed at improving transparency in line with Public Finance Management Act.

– The Times