Avoid FNB for Business. It costs you more than frustration. It could cost you your Business!

As a business owner, I never imagined that my financial service provider—one that should enable and support businesses—would be the very institution to bring mine to its knees. But here I am, five days later, still waiting for a single call from FNB management after their utter negligence has severely impacted my business operations, my supplier relationships, and ultimately, myself and my staff’s livelihoods.

It all began on 30 January 2025, when I raised a critical issue regarding failed forex payments. The process was excruciating, costing me hours of valuable time due to FNB’s faulty system and misinformation from their representatives.

After spending hours loading forex payments, the system failed repeatedly. Nsovo, from the respective department, ignored my request and instead provided a generic number to call—leading me down a rabbit hole instead of resolving the issue. I had to redo the payments three times, wasting crucial time in a business where forex transactions are time-sensitive due to fluctuating exchange rates. My payment which had been instructed by FNB to process in a specific way with a specific code, which was confirmed by 3 representative to do, was eventually cancelled by Arlene, and to add insult to injury, FNB charged me for the cancelled transaction—making me pay for their Mistakes! Literally!

As if this wasn’t damaging enough, FNB’s failure has cost me my supplier’s trust—a supplier who is CORE to my business. Their negligence has resulted in severe repercusions from my supplier abroad, putting my operations at serious risk.

To make matters worse, FNB’s supposed customer relationship/managment team has completely ignored me:

Mashudu and Tshepo failed to acknowledge my issue or address my frustration, or even just respond to my email. Fred, the banker I specifically requested to call me, has been dodging me since day one of my issue and has failed to call me after 3 requests as well as an additional request to have his senior call me after being ignored by him for days. After escalating my case, I expected at least some level of management intervention—but not a single senior representative has reached out. Not one. So here I am, five days later, completely ignored by FNB management, my businesses image and supply damaged, my supplier relationship severely strained, and my staff’s livelihoods jeopardised. And for what? Because FNB simply does not care.

I cannot stress this enough: If you are a business owner, DO NOT use FNB. Their lack of accountability, gross incompetence, and utter disregard for their clients could cost you far more than just frustration—it could cost you your business.