Absa | Absa Board of Directors

Absa Bank Limited (Absa) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Absa Group. We offer a range of retail, business, corporate and investment banking, as well as wealth management, products and services primarily in South Africa and Africa.

The Absa Bank Memorandum of Incorporation (MOI), which is in accordance with the Companies Act 2008, regulates the rights, duties and responsibilities of shareholders, directors and others within the Bank.

Absa Bank MOI and Registration Certificates

Good corporate governance creates and sustains shareholder value, ensures that our behaviour is ethical and promotes positive outcomes for all our stakeholders. This is why we are committed to the highest standards of corporate governance. Our board is the focal point and custodian of Absa Group’s governance principles as set out in our Board Charter and contained in various policies and standards.

Chairman

Sello Moloko

Sello Moloko (57)

Independent Non-Executive Chairman

Sello was appointed to the board as an independent non-executive director and Chairman designate of Absa Group and Absa Bank with effect from 1 December 2021.

On 1 April 2022, he took over from previous Chairman Wendy Lucas-Bull, who stepped down on 31 March 2022.
He is a member of the Directors’ Affairs Committee (DAC), Group Risk and Capital Management Committee (GRCMC), Group Remuneration Committee (RemCo) and Social, Sustainability and Ethics Committee (SSEC).

Sello has a career spanning close to 30 years in the financial services industry.
He is a former CEO of Old Mutual Asset Managers, where he was also a member of the Old Mutual South Africa executive team.
Thereafter, he founded Thesele Group, an investment holding company, where he is the Executive Chairman.

He has served as chairman of the boards of Alexander Forbes Group Holdings Limited for 10 years from 2007 and has also chaired the boards of Sibanye-Stillwater Limited and General Reinsurance Africa Limited (a Berkshire Hathaway company), amongst others.

He is also a trustee of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

He is the former chairman of Telkom SA SOC Limited.

Qualifications: Advanced Management Program (AMP); Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE); BSc (Hons).

Executive directors

Charles Russon

Charles Russon (56)

Interim Group Chief Executive Officer

Charles was appointed as Interim Group Chief Executive Officer on 15 October 2024 and he joined the Board on the same date.

Prior to his appointment, Charles was Chief Executive of Absa's Corporate and Investment Bank (CIB).

His earlier roles within the Group included several leadership positions such as Acting Group Executive: Absa Regional Operations; Group Chief Operating Officer; Regional Head of Finance; Chief Operating Officer of Corporate and Investment Banking; and Chief Executive: Engineering Services.

He joined the Group in 2006 and the Executive Committee in 2014.

He is a member of the Group Risk and Capital Management Committee (GRCMC), Group Credit Risk Committee (GCRC), Social, Sustainability and Ethics Committee (SSEC), and Information Technology Committee (ITC).

He completed his articles with KPMG and then joined Merrill Lynch in London as financial controller for credit products.

Charles worked for Deutsche Bank in London and Frankfurt from 1998 to 2006 as the rates Head of Product Control before he joined Absa Capital in September 2006 as Chief Financial Officer.

Qualifications: CA (SA)
Deon Raju

Deon Raju (46)

Group Financial Director

Deon was appointed as Group Financial Director on 26 April 2024 and he joined the Board on the same date.

Prior to the appointment role, he was Absa’s Group Chief Risk Officer with effect from 1 June 2021 and was a member of the Executive Committee and the Group Treasurer for the 5 years before that, primarily responsible for the liquidity risk, funding, capital, and non-traded market risks of the Group.

Deon is the chairman of the Models Committee and a member of the Group Risk and Capital Management Committee (GRCMC), Group Credit Risk Committee (GCRC) and Information Technology Committee (ITC).

Deon has been with Absa for over 20 years of his 22 years in banking.

Deon has held a variety of roles within the organisation, including within Enterprise Risk, Finance, Investment Banking, Credit Portfolio Management and Global Markets.
He is a seasoned banking professional with deep institutional knowledge of the Group, as well extensive and diversified banking experience in business, finance and risk management.

Qualifications: B Com (Hons); CA (SA); CFA.

Independent non-executive directors

Tasneem Abdool-Samad

Tasneem Abdool-Samad (48)

Independent Non-Executive Director

Tasneem has been on the Absa Bank Board as an independent non-executive director since 2016, and joined the Board (Absa Group) as an independent non-executive director on 1 February 2018. She joined the Group Audit and Compliance Committee (GACC) on 1 April 2018 and assumed the position of GACC chairman from 4 June 2020. She rejoined the board of Absa Bank Limited as independent non-executive director with effect from 4 June 2020.

Tasneem is also a member of the Group Risk and Capital Management Committee (GRCMC), Board Finance Committee (BFC) and Directors’ Affairs Committee (DAC). She is the Chairman of the Absa Financial Services Board.

Tasneem started her career at Deloitte in KwaZulu-Natal. She then moved to the University of the Witwatersrand, where she was a lecturer in auditing from 2003 to 2006. In 2006 she rejoined Deloitte and is a former member of the Deloitte South Africa board.

Tasneem is an independent non-executive chairman of Absa Financial Services Limited, and is a non-executive director of Reunert Limited, and Bid Corporation Limited.

Qualifications: BCom; CA (SA)
Rose Keanly

Rose Keanly (64)

Independent Non-Executive Director

Rose joined the board as an independent non-executive director on 1 September 2019. She is a member of the Directors’ Affairs Committee (DAC), Information Technology Committee (ITC), Social, Sustainability and Ethics Committee (SSEC), and is the chairman of the Group Remuneration Committee (RemCo) . She has been a member of the Absa Financial Services (AFS) Board since July 2020. She was appointed as an independent non-executive director of Absa Bank Limited with effect from 8 February 2022.

Rose retired as the former Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Old Mutual Emerging Markets (OMEM) in February 2018, following a career with the Old Mutual group spanning 38 years and various, mainly information technology and operations related, positions. Prior to her position as COO, she was the Managing Director of OMEM Customer Services and Technology. Rose currently also serves as a non-executive director of the Gender-Based Violence Fund (GBVF).

Qualifications: BSc; BCom (Honours).
Nonhlanhla Mjoli-Mncube

Nonhlanhla Mjoli-Mncube (64)

Lead Independent Director

Nonhlanhla joined the board as an independent non-executive director on 15 October 2020. She is a member of the Directors’ Affairs Committee (DAC), Social, Sustainability and Ethics Committee (SSEC), Group Credit Risk Committee (GCRC) and is the chairman of the Board Finance Committee (BFC). She was appointed as the lead independent director of both the Group and Absa Bank boards with effect from 8 February 2022.

She is the former economic advisor to the Presidency, former chairman of the National Urban Reconstruction and Housing Agency and former deputy chair of the Construction Industry Development Board. Nonhlanhla serves on the board and audit committee of Zeder Investment Limited, is a non-executive director of Zeder Financial Services Limited, and has previously served on the boards of several other listed companies including Capitec Bank, WBHO Construction, Cadiz Financial Services, Tongaat Hulett and Pioneer Foods.

Qualifications: Post-Graduate Certificate (Engineering Business Management); Fellowship in Urban Development (MIT); Masters in Urban and Regional Planning.
René van Wyk

René van Wyk (66)

Independent Non-Executive Director

René rejoined the Absa Group Board as a non-executive director from 1 August 2020. He served as the Group Chief Executive from 1 March 2019 to 14 January 2020. Following a cooling-off period of 12 months, René has since been regarded as an independent non-executive director from 1 August 2021. He was appointed as an independent non-executive director of Absa Bank Limited on 1 February 2022.

René originally joined the board as an independent non-executive director on 1 February 2017. He is a member of the Group Audit and Compliance Committee (GACC), Directors’ Affairs Committee (DAC), Board Finance Committee (BFC) and is the chairman of the Group Risk and Capital Management Committee (GRCMC), and Group Credit Risk Committee (GCRC).

René is the former registrar of Banks and head of banking supervision of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and retired from that position in May 2016. Prior to that, René was with the Nedbank Group of companies from 1993 to 2011, where he occupied various positions, in the risk field, notably executive director responsible for risk at Nedcor Investment Bank, and CEO of Imperial Bank (a subsidiary of Nedbank). In his earlier years, he joined KPMG and became a partner in the financial services group.

Qualifications: BCom; BCompt (Hons); CA (SA).