The board of Absa bank has appointed former South African Reserve Bank deputy governor Daniel Mminele as chief executive officer of Absa, confirming months of speculation on the subject.
Prior to joining SARB in September 1999, he worked for African Merchant Bank and Commerzbank in South Africa, and WestDeutsche LandesBank in the UK and Germany for 12 years before that. By leaving SARB, he is arguably moving from the frying pan into the fire as SA’s banking sector will face its own challenges in 2020. “Traditional banks are facing competition from new entrants and a weak macro-economic backdrop,” says PSG banking analyst Adrian Cloete.
Mminele also faces challenges at an organisation level. He will join an executive team that is hard-pressed to transform a bank that has undergone two major restructuring programmes in the past 15 years. The challenge is on to regain market share and rebuild a truly African bank. In 2018, then Absa CEO Maria Ramos announced an ambitious strategy to double in size and capture at least 12% of banking revenues across the continent.According to its key measurements of progress, the bank is making stop-start progress on its stated objectives.
At the time, Jason Quinn, Absa group financial director noted that revenue momentum was improving in key areas and that the group remained committed to achieving its objectives by 2021.