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.

Independent directors

Wendy Lucas-Bull (Chairman)

Wendy Lucas-Bull (Chairman)

Wendy joined the Board as an independent non-executive director and chairman in 2013. She is also chairman of the Absa Group and Absa Financial Services board. Wendy is the chairman of the Directors’ Affairs Committee and the Separation Oversight Committee, and she is also a member of the Board Finance, Group Risk and Capital Management, Group Remuneration, Credit Concentration Risk, Social and Ethics and Information Technology Committees. She is a permanent attendee of the Group Audit and Compliance Committee.

Wendy is one of the founders of the Peotona Group. She was previously chief executive of FirstRand Limited’s retail businesses and prior to that, an executive director of Rand Merchant Bank Holdings. Her former non-executive directorships include those at Barclays PLC, Anglo American Platinum Limited, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, Alexander Forbes, Eskom, Nedbank, Telkom, Aveng (deputy chairman), Lafarge Industries (chairman), the South African Financial Markets Advisory Board, Discovery Holdings, Dimension Data PLC and the Momentum Group. She was also a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Black Economic Empowerment.

Qualifications: BSc
Alex Darko

Alex Darko

Alex joined the Absa Group Limited board as an independent non-executive director in 2014 and is a member of the Group Audit and Compliance Committee (GACC), Directors’ Affairs Committee (DAC), Separation Oversight Committee (SC), chairman of the Group Remuneration Committee (RemCo) and of the Information Technology Committee (ITC). Alex was appointed as an independent non-executive director of Absa Bank Limited with effect from 15 May 2019.

Alex held a number of senior positions at Dun & Bradstreet, including director of UK shared services, director of finance at Dun & Bradstreet Europe Ltd and head of accounting re-engineering. He later moved back to Ghana and worked for Ashanti Goldfields in a number of senior roles. Alex was vice-president, knowledge and information at AngloGold Ashanti from 2005 to 2010.

Alex is a director at Nkululeko Leadership Consulting where he advises organisations on leadership, culture, strategy and change management. He is also a non-executive director of Reunert Limited.

Qualifications: MSc (MIS); Fellow of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA).
Francis Okomo-Okello

Francis Okomo-Okello (70)

Independent Non-Executive Director

Francis joined the Absa Group Limited board as an independent director in 2014, and was appointed as the chairman of the Social and Ethics Committee (SEC) with effect from 4 June 2020 and is a member of the Directors’ Affairs Committee (DAC). Francis also joined as independent non-executive director of Absa Bank Limited from 4 June 2020.

Francis is an Albert Parvin fellow of Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, and a fellow of The Kenya Institute of Bankers. He is also an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. He serves as chairman of TPS Eastern Africa Limited (Serena Group of Hotels and Lodges), and as a non-executive director of the Nation Media Group. Currently, Francis is the executive director in charge of legal and corporate affairs at Industrial Promotion Services Group of Companies, an affiliate of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development.

He also serves as a member of the advisory board of the Strathmore Business School (Strathmore University, Nairobi) and a member of the advisory committee of the Aga Khan University, Faculty of Arts and Sciences – East Africa.

Qualifications: LLB (Hons).
Mark Merson

Mark Merson (51)

Mark joined the Absa Group Limited board in January 2014 as a non-executive director and became an independent non-executive director with effect from October 2017. Mark is the chairman of the Group Risk and Capital Management Committee (GRCMC), Group Credit Risk Committee (GCRC) and the Board Finance Committee (BFC). Mark was appointed as an independent non-executive director of Absa Bank Limited with effect from 15 May 2019.

Mark is a graduate of Oxford University, a chartered accountant and was previously a partner in the financial services consulting practice of Arthur Andersen and Deloitte. From 2003 through 2016, he served Barclays PLC in a variety of roles including group financial controller, head of investor relations, chief financial officer for the Corporate and Investment Bank and latterly deputy group finance director. Mark is also a director of Veritum Partners Limited, which offers advice on market interaction to European banks.

Mark is also Chairman of Absa Securities UK Limited.

Qualifications: ACA; MA (Hons).
Sipho Pityana

Sipho Pityana (60)

Lead Independent Director

Sipho joined the Absa Group Limited board as an independent non-executive director with effect from 1 May 2019. He was appointed as the lead independent director of both the Group and Absa Bank boards with effect from 4 June 2020.

He is a member of the Group Credit Risk Committee (GCRC), Group Remuneration Committee (RemCo) and Directors’ Affairs Committee (DAC). He is a former executive director of Nedcor Investment Bank Holdings from 2002 to 2004, responsible for strategic business development.

Sipho is the founder and chairman of Izingwe Capital, a black-owned investment company founded in 2004, which invests in a number of South Africa’s blue chip corporates. He is also the non-executive chairman of JSE listed companies AngloGold Ashanti and Redefine Properties Limited.

He is the president of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), and a member of the Community of Chairmen of the World Economic Forum.

Qualifications: BA (Hons), MSc
Tasneem Abdool-Samad

Tasneem Abdool-Samad (45)

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 at which point she stepped down from the Absa Bank Board. 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).

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 a non-executive director of Absa Financial Services Limited (Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee Chairman), Reunert Limited, Long4Life Limited and Bid Corporation Limited.

Qualifications: BCom; CA (SA)

Executive directors

Daniel Mminele

Daniel Mminele

Daniel was appointed as Group Chief Executive with effect from 15 January 2020. He is a member of the Group Risk and Capital Management (GRCMC), Group Credit Risk Committee (GCRC), Social and Ethics Committee (SEC), Information Technology Committee (ITC), Separation Oversight Committee (SC) and Models Committee (MC).

Daniel has substantial banking experience, having most recently completed his second 5-year term as Deputy Governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), where his responsibilities included Financial Markets, International Economic Relations and Policy, and Human Capital and Operations. Among others, he was a member of the Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee.

Prior to joining the SARB in September 1999, he worked for African Merchant Bank and Commerzbank in South Africa, and WestLB in the UK and Germany for 12 years, commencing in 1987. Daniel previously earned a German banking qualification and obtained various associate certificates from the Institute of Bankers in the UK.

Qualifications: Associate Certificates (City Polytechnic of London /Guildhall University) in association with Chartered Institute of Bankers (London); German Banking Diploma (Bankkaufmann).
Jason Quinn

Jason Quinn

Jason is the group financial director and he joined the Board and Executive Committee in September 2016. He is the chairman of the Models Committee and a member of the Group Risk and Capital Management, Credit Concentration Risk, Information Technology and Separation Oversight Committees.

Before joining the Group, he was a partner at Ernst & Young Inc. Jason joined the Group in 2008 as the financial controller and was appointed as the head of finance in 2014 after holding several senior finance positions.

Jason is a director of Absa Financial Services Limited, Woolworths Financial Services (Pty) Limited and is an employer-appointed trustee of the Absa Pension Fund.

Qualifications: B Acc (Hons); CA (SA)