Absa Group has announced the appointment of Charles Russon as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of corporate and investment banking, and Paul O\u2019Flaherty as chief executive: engineering services.<\/p>\n
Both appointments are effective 5 November 2018 and are both subject to regulatory approvals.<\/p>\n
“The appointments are a significant step forward in the Absa Group\u2019s implementation of its new operating model that was announced in April, with four core businesses, each headed by a chief executive. These are Retail and Business Banking (RBB); Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB); Rest of Africa; Wealth, Investment Management and Insurance (WIMI), the bank said.<\/p>\n
Russon has previously worked for Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank in Europe before joining Absa Capital as CFO in 2006. He later became CIB chief operating officer (COO) before taking up a role as regional head of finance for the group in 2012.<\/p>\n
Russon has been a member of the Absa Group (previously Barclays Africa Group) executive committee since January 2014. He is currently the chief executive for engineering services, and his responsibilities include overseeing the group\u2019s technology infrastructure, data and security.<\/p>\n
The bank has also appointed Paul O\u2019Flaherty as chief executive for engineering services, and he will join the group executive committee. O\u2019Flaherty will step down from the board, of which he has been a non-executive director since January 2016. As CE of engineering services, O\u2019Flaherty will be responsible for technology, data, security, and the separation program.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Flaherty was most recently chief executive officer of Al Naboodah Group Enterprises in the United Arab Emirates. He is also a former chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal South Africa and finance director of Eskom.<\/p>\n