Announcement on Moody's downgrades FirstRand Bank Limited (Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa) (Registration No. 1929/001225/06) Company code: BIFR1 (“FRB” or “the Bank”) AMENDMENT TO FIRSTRAND BANK LIMITED’S CREDIT RATINGS Noteholders are referred to the announcement issued by Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”) on 4 October 2012, in which the agency announced that it had downgraded by one notch the foreign- currency deposit ratings of the five South African banks. Moody’s stated that the rating actions were “prompted by (1) the weakening of the South African government’s credit profile, as captured by Moody’s downgrade of South Africa’s government bond rating to Baa1(negative) from A3(negative)on 27 September 2012; and (2) the high sovereign exposure of the five largest South African banks, comprising on average more than 150% relative to their Tier 1 capital, which links their creditworthiness to that of the national government and constrains their standalone ratings to the sovereign rating level.” For further information refer to the sovereign press release “Moody’s downgrades South Africa’s government bond rating to Baa1; outlook remains negative”. The agency also stated that the “negative outlooks on the banks’ ratings reflect the negative outlook on the government rating, which signals further downside risk in the operating environment as well as in the government’s capacity to provide systemic support to the banking system”. SUMMARY OF RATING ACTIONS: The BFSR of C-(stable outlook) remains unaffected, equivalent to a standalone credit assessment of Baa1. The local-currency deposit ratings of A3/P-2 remain unaffected. The outlook was changed to negative from stable. The foreign-currency long-term deposit rating has been downgraded to Baa1 (negative outlook) from A3 (negative outlook). The foreign-currency short-term deposit rating of P-2 remains unaffected. The national-scale deposit ratings of Aa2.za/P-1.za remain unaffected. With regards to the Bank’s EMTN programme, the provisional foreign-currency senior unsecured debt rating of (P)A3 and any issued foreign-currency senior unsecured debt rated A3 remain unaffected. The outlook is negative. The foreign-currency commercial paper rating of P-2 remains unaffected. With regards to the Bank’s DMTN programme, the provisional local- currency senior unsecured debt rating of (P)A3, the provisional local-currency subordinated and junior subordinated debt ratings of (P)Baa2 and (P)Baa3 respectively, and any issued local-currency junior subordinated debt rated Baa3(hyb), remain unaffected. The outlook for all ratings is negative. The provisional short-term local-currency rating of (P)P-2, the national-scale senior unsecured debt rating Aa2.za, the national- scale ratings for subordinated debt and junior subordinated debt of A1.za and A2.za respectively, and any issued national-scale junior subordinated debt rated A2.za(hyb) remain unaffected. Please refer to the Moody’s press release for any further information. 8 October 2012 Debt Sponsor Rand Merchant Bank (A division of FirstRand Bank Limited) Date: 08/10/2012 02:00:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE'). The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on, information disseminated through SENS.