Absa has removed Sipho Pityana as lead independent director roughly three weeks after it emerged he is suing the banking regulator for allegedly blocking his appointment as chair of SA’s third-biggest lender by assets.
In a statement released just 10 minutes before the JSE closed on Friday, Absa informed shareholders its board had decided that Pityana would cease “with immediate effect” to be lead independent director, chair of the group’s remuneration committee and, as a consequence, a member of its directors’ affairs committee. For the time being Pityana remains a member of Absa’s board.
On October 25, Business Day broke the news that Pityana had taken the extraordinary step of taking the Prudential Authority (PA) to court for allegedly blocking his appointment as Absa chair. Pityana filed papers to the high court asking it to declare that the PA, which falls under the auspices of the Reserve Bank and which regulates the country’s banks, had unlawfully conducted an “informal process” with the boards of Absa Bank and Absa Holdings to block his nomination.
At the heart of Pityana’s case against the PA is the claim that Kuben Naidoo, the CEO of the PA and a deputy governor of the central bank, allegedly told outgoing Absa board chair Wendy Lucas-Bull that he would not support Pityana’s nomination as her replacement. Lucas-Bull is due to step down as Absa chair in March 2022.
While Pityana’s court challenge cites Absa as an interested party, he is not seeking relief from the lender or the overturning of its appointment of former Old Mutual Asset Managers CEO Sello Moloko as its chair.
Pityana is instead claiming for alleged reputational damage from the PA for conducting what he describes as a flawed background check that resulted in him being overlooked as chair.
Pityana’s court papers allege that he would have been appointed Absa chair were it not for the 2020 sexual harassment allegations against him by a senior executive of AngloGold Ashanti, which he denies. Pityana also claims it was former Absa CEO Maria Ramos, now chair of AngloGold Ashanti, who informed the bank’s board of the allegations.
Absa said on Friday that it would notify shareholders in due course of the appointment of a new lead independent director of the group and chair of its remuneration committee. With Andrew Linder
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