Standard Bank Group has appointed Margaret Nienaber as its COO with immediate effect, a move that appears to be an attempt to bolster the bank’s operational strength after a series of internal mishaps that have garnered unwanted controversy.
Nienaber, who was previously the group’s CEO of client solutions, will be responsible for its engineering, innovation, and brand and marketing functions, the bank said on Thursday. She will also retain responsibility for her previous duties as head of client solutions.
“They’re obviously trying to strengthen the operational side of their business, which has come in for some criticism of late due to the recent systems issues they’ve experienced,” said Rowan Williams, a director at Nitrogen Fund Managers. “Margaret is highly competent and has had a pretty successful run at the bank, which is now recognising that by appointing her as COO. It’s also positive to see the advancement of a top female executive to a strategically important position.”
Nienaber joined Standard Bank in May 2010 as head of private clients SA and was appointed global head of wealth and investment in 2013. She was named CEO of the bank’s wealth unit in 2017, a role that subsequently morphed into her previous position as head of client solutions in January when Standard Bank’s revised operating model came into effect.
Before joining Standard Bank, Nienaber served on the Santam executive team for almost four years. During her time at the wealth manager and insurance firm she was responsible for the group’s people and brand functions as well as its expansion in Southeast Asia.
Nienaber holds BCompt and BCompt (Hons) degrees and is also a qualified chartered accountant.
Her appointment comes as Standard Bank battles a series of controversies, including multiple systems crashes and the sacking of dozens of staff involved in illegitimately activating digital bank accounts on behalf of clients without their knowledge. Sasbo, a union representing about 73,000 members in the finance sector, has accused the bank of placing undue pressure on the affected employees to meet overly aggressive sales targets.
Africa’s biggest lender by assets also suffered a major systems outage on May 21 that left clients unable to transact at point of sales devices or draw cash for more than six hours. The debacle led to the resignation of the bank’s chief engineering officer and senior executive accountable for the stability of its IT systems.
“The systems issues don’t reflect well on the senior management of the bank so they’ll be looking to really beef up their operational strength and depth with Margaret’s appointment,” said Williams.
At the time of the May 21 systems outage, which was unrelated to at least three other software-related system glitches, the bank blamed the issue on the failure of a component that processes card and ATM transactions and then feeds the information into its internal systems. After the departure of its chief engineer it also announced that the systems engineering team would in future report to Nienaber.
“She’s good at operations and knows how to make things work, but the real problem for Standard Bank is that if you look at what they spend on their IT systems they just aren’t getting bang for their buck,” said Radebe Sipamla, an investment analyst at Mergence Investment Managers. “My one concern is that Margaret doesn’t really come from a strong IT systems background, but perhaps what they’re looking for is someone who can hold people accountable and get the teams running smoothly.”
Standard Bank’s most recent results show the group’s total information technology function spend amounted to R19.38bn for the year to end-December 2021, up from R18.67bn in the previous fiscal year. Of the 2021 expenditure, licences, maintenance and related costs accounted for R9.74bn, while staff costs reached R4.35bn, followed by depreciation, amortisation and other expenses which totalled R5.29bn.
Standard Bank is also integrating Liberty into its Africa-wide operations after buying out minority shareholders and delisting the insurer earlier in 2022. The plan is part of a strategic revision announced in 2021 aimed at growing the bank’s retail client base to 25-million by 2025.
Standard Bank shares rose 2.4% to R152,59 at 2.14pm.
Update: July 7 2022
This story has been updated with Standard Bank’s share price and additional information.
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