LONDON, UK: After seven years as CEO of Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), the corporate and investment banking division of FirstRand Bank Limited, James Formby will hand over the role to Ms Emmarentia (Emrie) Brown effective 1 October 2022, at which point, Ms Brown will become a prescribed officer and join the FirstRand Limited (FirstRand or the group) strategic executive committee as the CEO of RMB.
FirstRand’s succession planning is focused on building talent pools that enable promotion from within, thus ensuring strategic and operational continuity.
Ms Brown began her career with RMB in 2001 and is a long-standing member of RMB’s senior management team. Currently the head of RMB’s Banking division, which represents the most significant portion of RMB’s total earnings, Ms Brown has extensive experience in lending, advisory, corporate transactional and investment banking, and has built strong, long-term client relationships.
FirstRand congratulates Ms Brown on her new role. The group is grateful to Mr Formby for his careful and dedicated stewardship of RMB, which continued to deliver growth and returns to shareholders and maintained its market leadership position in both South Africa and the broader African region. Mr Formby has a number of options available to him within the broader group, which he is considering.
FirstRand Bank Limited is the largest listed financial services group (by market capitalisation) in Africa. The Group is differentiated by its owner-manager culture and operates a portfolio of five separately branded franchises: FNB, RMB, WesBank, Aldermore and Ashburton Investments.
The Group’s Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) businesses in Ghana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia are branded FNB to meet and comply with legal and regulatory requirements. The Group’s CIB offering in South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria and Botswana is branded Rand Merchant Bank (RMB).