{"id":856536,"date":"2026-04-11T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=856536"},"modified":"2026-04-10T16:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T14:22:14","slug":"the-woolworths-finance-giant-that-it-doesnt-actually-control","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/856536\/the-woolworths-finance-giant-that-it-doesnt-actually-control\/","title":{"rendered":"The Woolworths finance giant that it doesn’t actually control"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Woolworths Financial Services (WFS) is a staple of the retailers’ subsidiary portfolio, but it does not control the entity, with Absa holding a 50% + 1 share in the financial business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

WFS offers a range of financial products, including store cards, credit cards, personal loans, and short-term insurance and life-insurance linked to other products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it carries the Woolworths brand, it is actually a joint venture with Absa. Woolworths Holdings sold a 50% + 1 share stake in the business for R875 million in 2008, giving Absa a simple majority. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WFS board is composed of directors from both WHL and Absa Group Limited, with direction on credit policy, risk, and funding from Absa, and on customer integration from Woolworths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The business was established in the early 1990s, and the partnership with Absa was aimed at growing Woolworths’ business and enhancing Absa\u2019s participation in the consumer finance market. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time of the deal, Woolworths said it needed a world-class partner that could provide access to specialist skills necessary to assist in the management and growth of the consumer finance business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

WFS benefited from Absa\u2019s funding, credit risk management capabilities, customer value management, and industry expertise, which were backed by Barclays Bank at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Absa, the deal gave it access to the retailer finance market, where financial services were originated at the point of purchase\u2014not accessible through traditional banking channels at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absa would also benefit from the Woolworths brand, which is seen as one of the best in the country, its massive distribution network, and its existing financial services business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the deal was announced, Sam Ngumeni was appointed as the CEO of Woolworths Financial Services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The business remains profitable for Woolworths, having recorded a profit before tax of R216 million in the group’s latest interim results for the 26 weeks ended 28 December 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WFS Book increased by 1.8% year-on-year to the end of December 2025, and would have increased by 2.6% excluding the sale of part of its legal book. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that growth in the book was driven by a focus on quality, with both new accounts and credit limits on existing accounts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annualised impairment rate for WFS for the six months ended 31 December 2025 was 6.4%, which it said remains sector leading. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From WFS CEO to Group CEO <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Incoming Woolworths Group CEO Sam Ngumeni<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

While Ngumeni was the first CEO of the WFS joint venture with Absa, he will soon take over as the full CEO of the Woolworths Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ngumeni has close to thirty years of experience and has served as the Executive Director of WHL since 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He will take over as Group CEO of the company with effect from 1 June 2026, being promoted from his current role as Woolworths Food CEO. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has held several other senior roles within the group, including Group COO and Group Director of People and Transformation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is also on WHL\u2019s Risk, Information and Technology Committee, the Sustainability Committee, and the Social and Ethics Committee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also serves on the board of the group’s large subsidiaries, namely Woolworths (Pty) Ltd and Country Road Group (Pty) Ltd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The appointment of Ngumeni follows a review of both internal and external candidates, and he was favoured for his strong understanding of both South Africa and Australia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since taking over as CEO of the Food division, the group said he has successfully led the business\u2019s continued above-market performance and further strengthened its leadership in premium food retailing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Group COO, he was responsible for the group’s Supply Chain and Logistics, Stores, Information Technology, Online and Digital, AI, Data and Analytics, Real Estate, and Rest of Africa operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am deeply honoured to be appointed as Group CEO of this iconic Company, and one which is held in such high regard in our country,\u201d said Ngumeni.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel a profound sense of responsibility in leading this business in the next phase of its growth trajectory and am truly excited about the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite holding the Woolworths brand, Woolworths Financial Services is controlled by Absa. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":854136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[949],"class_list":["post-856536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-woolworths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856536","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=856536"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":856550,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856536\/revisions\/856550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}