Steady Decline in FNB’s Private Wealth Service Experience

I am extremely frustrated by the ongoing decline in service, communication, and overall client experience within FNB Private Wealth.

My assigned Private Advisor resigned from FNB, yet I received absolutely no formal communication from the bank to advise me of this change or to tell me who would be taking over my portfolio. For a bank that charges premium fees and claims to offer a high-touch Private Wealth service, this is unacceptable.

I currently need assistance and advice from my Private Advisor. After making multiple unsuccessful calls to him, I sent an email on 18 April and copied in the Banking Advisor. Only afterwards, when I eventually managed to get hold of my Private Advisor, was I told that he no longer works for FNB.

The fact that I had to discover this myself is shocking. No official notification from FNB. No proactive communication. No handover. No response from the Banking Advisor to my email. I also tried calling the Banking Advisor several times, but his line is constantly busy or unavailable. So as a client, I am left paying for a so-called premium service while effectively having no meaningful access to support.

This raises a very serious question: does FNB still care about its Private Wealth clients at all?

What is most concerning is that this does not feel like an isolated incident. It feels like part of a broader and steady decay in the service levels, benefits, responsiveness, and overall experience offered to Private Wealth clients. The service no longer matches the positioning, and it certainly does not justify the fees being charged.

There was a time when I used to defend FNB and recommend it to others, even when friends, family, and colleagues insisted that Investec offered the better private banking experience. Based on what I have experienced recently, I am no longer confident that FNB deserves that defence.

At this point, FNB appears to want the prestige of the Private Wealth label and the associated fees, without delivering the communication, care, and quality of service that clients are paying for.

If FNB can no longer service Private Wealth clients properly, then it should reconsider charging premium fees for what is increasingly becoming an ordinary and at times substandard banking experience.