{"id":819846,"date":"2025-04-07T09:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-07T07:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=819846"},"modified":"2025-04-07T09:41:43","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T07:41:43","slug":"absa-bosses-score-r165-million-payday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/819846\/absa-bosses-score-r165-million-payday\/","title":{"rendered":"Absa bosses score R165 million payday"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Absa executives earned a combined R165 million in remuneration in 2024 amidst a series of leadership changes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2024 financial year was a relatively strong year for Absa. The group said that the outlook for South Africa improved following the formation of the GNU and the reduction of load shedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These factors led to improved business and consumer confidence. Inflation also improved, allowing interest rate cuts in September and November 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the performance of the group’s Africa Regions was notably different. East Africa performed well, but Zambia and Mozambique were hit by drought and unrest, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s headline earnings also jumped by 10% to R22.059 million. The group thus increased its dividend per share by 7% to 1,460 cents per share, achieving a payout ratio of 55.% <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South African headline earnings jumped by 14% to R15 billion, while the Africa regions remained flat at R6 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revenue for the period jumped to R109.9 billion, as net interest income increased by 4% to R71.1 billion. Non-interest income increased by 6% to R38.8 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group also benefited from an improved credit outlook. Its credit impairment charges decreased by 8% to R14.3 billion, improving the credit loss ratio from 1.18% to 1.03%<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lower charges reflected better early-stage performance in the Product Solutions Cluster and Everyday Banking, as the South African retail cycle and management implemented risk reduction strategies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big paydays<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Absa Interim CEO Charles Russon<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The group’s improved performance comes amidst several notable leadership changes, as Charles Russon was named Interim Group CEO following the departure of Arrie Rautenbach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russon served as the CEO of Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) before taking on the interim role. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russon’s single-figure remuneration at the group remained relatively unchanged, increasing from R29.7 million in 2023 to R29.8 million in 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Total single-figure remuneration includes fixed remuneration, short-term incentives and long-term incentives. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russon’s short-term incentive includes his performance as CEO of CIB from 1 January to 14 October 2024, and Interim Group Chief Executive Officer from 15 October to 31 December 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russon will not stay on as CEO of the Group as <\/strong>Kenny Fihla will take over<\/a>, having served as the Deputy CEO of the Standard Bank Group and the CEO of Standard Bank of South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fihla will join the group in June and work closely with Russon to ensure a smooth leadership transition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Group CEO Arrie Rautenbach’s single-figure remuneration package decreased heavily from R37.5 million in 2023 to R23.4 million in 2024. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His fixed remuneration was prorated for the period during which he served as the executive director in 2024, while no short-term and long-term incentive awards were granted to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group’s Financial Director position also changed hands, with former Group Chief Risk Officer Deon Raju taking over. Raju’s remuneration for 2024 stood at R17.7 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christopher Snyman, the Interim Group Financial Director before Raju’s appointment in April, saw his single-figure remuneration drop slightly from R9.5 million to R9.1 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Financial Director and newly-appointed Nedbank CEO Jason Quinn resigned from Absa in November 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He thus saw no remuneration in 2024 and was awarded short- or long-term incentives in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newly appointed cluster CEOs Christine Wu, who heads the Everyday Banking cluster, and Yasmin Masithela, the Interim CEO of CIB, received R11.6 million and R17.5 million, respectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faisal Mkhize, CEO of Relationship Banking, saw his remuneration package increase from R15.8 million to R17.5 million, while Geoffrey Lee’s package jumped from R16.1 million to R19 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saviour Chibiya, the CEO of Absa Regional Operations, saw his package decrease slightly from R16.9 million to R16.8 million.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After being replaced by Wu, former CEO of Everyday Banking, Cowyk Fox’s package dropped from R15.5 million to R2.6 million. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, when including the several leadership changes at the group, Absa’s total single-figure remuneration for its major executive increased from R149.9 million in 2023 to R164.9 million in 2024: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Executive<\/strong><\/td>Role<\/strong><\/td>2023<\/strong><\/td>2024<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Charles Russon<\/td>Group Interim CEO<\/td>R29.7 million<\/td>R29.8million<\/td><\/tr>
Arrie Rautenbach<\/td>Former Group CEO<\/td>R37.5 million<\/td>R23.4 million<\/td><\/tr>
Deon Raju<\/td>Group Financial Director <\/td>–<\/td>R17.7 million<\/td><\/tr>
Christopher Snyman<\/td>Interim Group Financial Director <\/td>R9.5 million<\/td>R9.1 million<\/td><\/tr>
Jason Quinn<\/td>Former Group Financial Director <\/td>R8.7 million<\/td>–<\/td><\/tr>
Christine Wu<\/td> CEO of Everyday Banking<\/td>–<\/td>R11.6 million<\/td><\/tr>
Faisal Mkhize<\/td>CEO of Relationship Banking<\/td>R15.8 million<\/td>R17.5 million<\/td><\/tr>
Geoffrey Lee<\/td>CEO of Product Solutions Cluster<\/td>R16.1 million<\/td>R19 million<\/td><\/tr>
Saviour Chibiya<\/td>CEO of Absa Regional Operations<\/td>R16.9 million<\/td>R16.8 million<\/td><\/tr>
Yasmin Masithela<\/td>Interim CEO of CIB<\/td>–<\/td>R17.5 million<\/td><\/tr>
Cowyk Fox<\/td> Former CEO of Everyday Banking<\/td>R15.5 million<\/td>R2.6 million<\/td><\/tr>
Total<\/strong><\/td>–<\/td>R149.9 million<\/strong><\/td>R164.9 million<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div>
Single-figure remuneration <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Absa saw a series of leadership changes in 2024, with Charles Russon taking over on an interim basis near the end of the year. New CEO Kenny Fihla will take over in June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":816384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[29,1799,499],"class_list":["post-819846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-absa","tag-nedbank","tag-standard-bank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819846"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819846\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":819869,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819846\/revisions\/819869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/816384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}