Firstrand acquires remaining minority stake in DirectAxis FirstRand Limited (Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa) (Registration number: 1966/010753/06) JSE Ordinary Share Code: FSR ISIN: ZAE000066304 JSE B Preference Share Code: FSRP ISIN: ZAE000060141 NSX Ordinary Share Code: FST (“FirstRand” or “the Group”) FIRSTRAND ACQUIRES REMAINING MINORITY STAKE IN DIRECTAXIS FirstRand Limited (FirstRand) today announced that it has acquired the remaining minority stake in DirectAxis Proprietary Limited (DirectAxis). FirstRand already held a majority 65.48% share in DirectAxis which provides marketing, acquisition, administration and collections services on behalf of WesBank’s personal loans division. Commenting on the transaction, Johan Burger, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of FirstRand commented that FirstRand had acquired the remainder of DirectAxis in order to more effectively leverage the benefits of the direct channel and that this would be key to generating growth in cross sell opportunities. “Our stated strategy is to grow through cross selling banking and insurance products into the Group’s combined customer base. We believe that full ownership of DirectAxis will allow us to integrate this valuable channel with all of our existing origination channels, leverage its direct marketing capabilities cross the Group, expand its product offering into the FNB customer base and cross sell FNB’s transactional offering into the DirectAxis customer base, of which only 30% currently has a core transactional account with FNB.” The unsecured lending portfolios which DirectAxis manages on behalf of WesBank and other external parties are largely comprised of lending to the middle consumer market (LSM 7-10). The portfolios have proven to be resilient in difficult credit environments. “DirectAxis has been a very successful contributor to the Group’s strategy to grow in personal loans, particularly given the high quality customer segments it services” said Burger. “The management team is highly respected in the market and has enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with WesBank”. FirstRand said that the financial details of the Transaction would be outlined in its year end results announcement, scheduled to be published on 10 September 2015. Sandton 2 July 2015 Sponsor RAND MERCHANT BANK (A division of FirstRand Bank Limited) Date: 02/07/2015 04:34:00 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.