Absa CEO targets retail growth in SA and scale on the continent

Source: Reuters/Mike Hutchings

South Africa's third-largest bank by assets has been trying to innovate and improve performance since splitting from former British parent Barclays over the three years to 2020, but the churning of CEOs has weighed on Absa's profitability.

Following Maria Ramos' retirement in 2019 after a decade leading the bank, it was headed by two other permanent and three interim CEOs before Kenny Fihla joined the lender in June.

"There's no doubt that our retail business in South Africa was effectively trapped in a time (when) others were innovating and getting better ways of delivering to the client," Fihla said in an interview on Monday, 18 August 2025. "We were stuck in a particular era."

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In June, the bank reversed its former CEO Arrie Rautenbach's strategy of splitting its retail banking business into three units, instead merging them into one.

"We're starting to see some early wins (in our retail business) in terms of the growth in client numbers and the growth in the number of clients who are transacting with us from the digital platform," Fihla said.

"Once we have appointed permanent leaders to run all of these businesses, I think we are likely to see an increase in the pace of execution and far greater momentum developing going into 2026."

Areas of focus for the bank include enhancing mobile and digital platforms and embedding artificial intelligence. It has also introduced value-added services, enhanced its rewards programme and added financial coaching tools, it said in a statement.

On the rest of its Africa portfolio of 11 countries, Fihla wants to increase the bank's market share and scale and also look to merge its two businesses in Tanzania.

"We'll also be looking at other larger markets where we do not have a presence," he said.

In Nigeria, where the bank has a representative office, "we'd want to do more," Fihla said. "But the environment must be right before we can think about significant scaling up."