Absa chairman speaks out

Absa’s outgoing chair, Sello Moloko, says the bank’s brand remains strong despite a series of leadership changes at the group over the last six years.

Speaking with the Sunday Times, Moloko said that the Absa brand remains strong, and the group has attracted a talented CEO in former Standard Bank executive Kenny Fihla.

Despite Fihla becoming Absa’s second black CEO, reports alleged that Absa had to remove Moloko as it could not have a black CEO and chairman.

However, Moloko, who joined Absa as a nonexecutive director in December 2021, said that there were three candidates to replace him.

Two of the candidates were black but were unavailable to take on the role, leaving René van Wyk to take over as chair.

Van Wyk served as the interim Group CEO in 2019 following the departure of Maria Ramos, whose decade-long tenure at the bank has not been replaced.

Moloko stressed that the group was committed to transformation. With Fihla’s appointment, the board members were 63% black, and 44% were women.

Although he agrees that a black chairman and CEO would be fantastic, he believes that insinuating that they can’t be both is an ‘inappropriate extrapolation of the situation.’

Moloko’s decision to step down was announced earlier this week so that he could focus on his family, personal business interests, and community commitments.

With 2024 being a challenging year for the group, he believes that the time is right to focus on other initiatives, such as the investment holding company, Thesele Group, which he co-founded 20 years ago.  

Van Wyk will succeed Moloko as chairman of the board effective 15 July 2025, subject to regulatory approval.

CEO changes

Despite the controversial change in chairman, Absa has recently been marred by a quick turnaround of CEOs.

Fihla will take over as CEO in June 2025 and is currently in gardening leave. He was only appointed Standard Bank Group Deputy CEO and Standard Bank South Africa CEO in September 2024.

Prior to this, Fihla served as the CEO of Standard Bank Corporate and Investment Banking.

Fihla will take over full-time from CEO Arrie Rautenbach, who entered early retirement amid a challenging period for the group.

The Sunday Times reported that the group faced a governance scandal under Rautenbach, whom some black executives accused of being anti-transformation.

Reports show that the board disagreed with Rautenbach’s push to remove Saviour Chibaya as head of Africa operations, despite it contributing over 40% to the bottom line in 2023.

Rautenbach’s appointment was also surrounded by controversy after Daniel Mminele left the role after just 16 months.

Mminele, who served as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank and was Absa’s first black CEO, left the role due to conflicts over the group’s strategy.

• Maria Ramos – March 2009 to February 2019
• René van Wyk – March 2019 to January 2020
• Daniel Mminele – January 2020 to April 2021
• Jason Quinn – April 2021 to March 2022
• Arrie Rautenbach – March 2022 to October 2024
• Charles Russon – October 2024 to June 2025
• Kenny Fihla – June 2025

Between Mminele and Rautenbach, Jason Quinn served as interim CEO. Quinn is now the CEO of Nedbank, with Mminele serving as its chair.

Following Rautenbach’s departure, Charles Russon, the CEO of Absa Corporate and Investment Banking, took over as interim CEO.

He will leave the role upon Filha’s return but will work closely with Fihla to ensure a smooth leadership transition. Then, he will take another key senior role.

Filha’s appointment will make him the seventh CEO, including interims, at Absa in as many years.