New Absa boss Kenny Fihla has tapped his former employer, Standard Bank, for top talent to fill key roles in his management team as he prepares to take the group’s new growth strategy to market in the next few months.
To this end, Absa has appointed Zaid Moola as CEO of corporate and investment banking (CIB).
Moola leads Standard Bank’s highly successful global markets, which recently recorded a record profit of R5.4bn in the six months to end-June, a surge of 64% from the previous period, cementing its place as a cog in the group’s CIB division.
Moola’s appointment will take effect in January, subject to regulatory approvals.
In another signal that Fihla aims to grow Absa CIB business, the lender also appointed Musa Motloung as group strategic risk officer, joining from Standard Bank, where he holds the role of chief risk officer in the CIB business.
Motloung will report to the chief risk officer, Rajal Vaidya.
“In this role, Musa will be a key contributor to the group [executive committee] regarding strategic decisions that have [a] large-scale and long-term effect on the group,” Absa said.
Moola and Motloung served under Fihla during his long stay as Standard Bank CEO of the CIB division, which accounts for about half of the group’s earnings.
Charles Russon, whose most recent role in Absa was that of acting CEO before Fihla took over the reins, has been appointed as CEO for Absa’s Africa regions, a crucial role as the group looks to leverage its Africa assets.
“In his new role, Charles will be accountable for leading and overseeing the performance of the group’s operations across the Africa regions and provide advisory support to the business units,” the lender said.
“The role encompasses strategic planning, financial analysis, stakeholder engagement and adherence to regulatory standards, while also directing the development and execution of business strategy throughout the African continent in support of the group CEO.”
Stabilising
The three appointments were important as the group positions itself to deliver “scaled impact and operational excellence across all markets”.
Fihla last month said his immediate task was to stabilise leadership and make permanent appointments to key roles.
He is working on a strategic overhaul aimed at deepening the bank’s pan-African presence, refining inherited foundations amid an industrywide march to East Africa.
To tap into growth opportunities in the fastest-growing East African region, Fihla said the group aimed to consolidate its Tanzanian business to build scale in the country, whose economy is growing at about 5%.
“Our ability to design and deliver as a client-centric pan-African organisation — enabled by top talent — is critical to our success and I’m excited to work with these colleagues,” Fihla said in a statement, reflecting on the three appointments.
Fihla left Standard Bank in March in a surprise move just six months after he was appointed deputy group CEO and handed control of Standard Bank Africa regions and SA businesses. His departure ended a nearly 20-year association with Africa’s largest bank by assets.
Fihla, who started his tenure in Absa in June, has been credited with building Standard Bank’s CIB unit into the most dominant player on the continent. He presided over a doubling of headline earnings in the CIB business to R20.5bn in the 2024 financial year.
Absa said it would be “streamlining its operations, simplifying organisational designs and structures, and leveraging data and technology better to deliver enhanced value to customers”.
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