1. Head: Information Technology at FNBLife
March 2015 to March 2018
Business Background
FNBLife wasa newlyrestructuredinsurance producthouse afterasplitof FNBInsurance intomiddle
marketproductsegments(alignedwithMomentum) and massmarketsegments(alignedwithFNB).
The focus of FNBLife wasto provide innovativeinsuranceproductsfor the massmarketleveragingof
the FNB brand.“Bank assurance”was the buzzwordof the day andinsurance embeddedintobank
productsformedthe mainincome streamof the business.
Products
 Funeral (variouspermutations)
 Personal Accident(variouspermutation)
 Legal Advice
 EmbeddedCreditLife (withFNB –deathand disabilitycover)
Technology Background
Since itwas a “new”entitythe immediatefocusof the IT teamwasto developanew administration
systemtoadminmass marketinsurance productslike FuneralandAccidentCover–systemwas
calledGENESIS. Secondaryfocuswasto expandandimprove the existingembeddedcreditlife
system(TECS). We alsohad to introduce a new businessAPItoallow variousexternal partnersto
sell ourproducts,and the aimthere wasto allow quickenhancementswithoutaffectingthe
channelstoomuch.
Technologies
 RPG on AS/400
 Java
 Delphi
Responsibilities
 IT StrategyPlan
 IT Budget
 Line Management(ITteam – 12 people)
 ApplicationArchitecture (FNBLife didnothave anapplicationortechnologyarchitect)
 Vendorandcontract management
 Development(certainshort-term“stopgap”applicationsdevelopedinDelphi tomeet
businessobjectivesuntillongtermdeliveryinappropriate technologies)

2. Personal highlights
I thoroughlyenjoyedmynewfound“freedom”atFNBLife underthe guidance of areal firebrandCEO
– JohanNagel. Formingpartof the excoteam, Johangave eacharea free reigntomake decisionsas
longas objectivesweremet.If youkeptthe golden rule –“no surprises”–Johan wouldbackyouup,
evenwhenunderfire fromYatinatFNB . I wasable to give inputonall areasand enjoyed
exposure tothe businessdomain,productdevelopmentandstrangelyenough,evenmarketing. We
didstrange and wonderful thingslike faxingapplicationsfromcars(rememberthiswaswaybefore
“mobile”wasreally“mobile”),setupsalescentersinupturnedshippingcontainers(Brandmarks)
and sell funeral planswithabundledfuneralplot(financedbyaloan)…
Later we expandedintothe Legal market withthe launchof a new productcalledFNBLaw On Call,
and here I wasinvolvedfrominceptiontoimplementation.The projectwassoldthroughmultiple
channels,includingthe FNBretail platform(CIS),outsourcedcall centers,aforementioned
Brandmarksand goodoldpaper applications.The legaladvice portionwasoutsourcedtoa third
party (Europe Assist) somanyintegrationandintercompanychallengeswerethrownmyway. This
was laterpulled“inhouse”andjustbefore IleftFNBLife,we ownedandoperatedthe “full value
chain”– includinganewJavafront endlegal case administrationsystem(calledRainmaker) andthe
actual lawyersemployedandseatedinourowncall centerat FNB.
One of the mostchallengingtasksI hadto undertake wasthe movingof infrastructure andsystem
fromMomentumto FNB.This wasnot so mucha highlightaslearningexperience andfacilitating
discussionsbetweenFNBandMomentuminfrastructure andITteamsremainssome of the more
colourful encountersof mycareer