It is a division of FirstRand, a large financial services conglomerate, which trades on the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE), under the symbol: FSR.

FNB is also listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange under the symbol FNBB and is a constituent of the BSE Domestic Company Index.

FNB is one of the three major divisions of the FirstRand Group, and the others being Rand Merchant Bank and Wesbank.

[2] Media reports in May 2012 indicated that the bank is also making plans to expand into Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

It traces its origins back to the Eastern triocrees Province Bank, which was formed in Grahamstown in 1838.

At about the same time, the government of the South African Republic desired to create a local commercial bank, due to the discovery of gold in Barberton and the Witwatersrand.

[6] In 1999, the First National Bank was mentioned in the 'Ciex Report' that summarised a two-year long investigation into the theft of R26 billion from the state during the apartheid era.

During September 2015 it was reported in the Sunday Times that FNB stated "a small number" of safety deposit boxes where stolen from the Sunnyside branch in Pretoria.