BMF and PIC to demand meetings with Absa board to explain CEO’s appointment

There could be blood on the floor as advocates of transformation prepare to confront Absa Bank to demand why it is reversing transformation in the group by hiring a white chief executive officer.

They were concerned the bank had been reversing transformation over a period of time and making anti-transformation decisions in the recent past – and that Arrie Rautenbach’s appointment as chief executive reinforced the bank’s anti-transformation attitude.

Macro-economist Miyelani Mkhabela from Antswisa – a transaction advisory based in Johannesburg – lambasted Absa.

“I have known the bank before, during and after the Barclays Bank transaction hasn’t been committed to transformation,” he said.

“Transformation is expected to be the primary focus for all corporations in South Africa but the board and shareholders of Absa have not prioritised transformation as a core bank strategy.”

Both the Black Management Forum (BMF) and the Public Investment Corporation (PIC) have vowed to demand meetings with Absa board to explain its decision.

BMF president Andile Nomlala said there was no justification for the Absa decision.

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“While we note the institutional knowledge and experience of Arrie Rautenbach, we note with serious concern the reversal of transformation made by the bank,” he said.

“Both the CEO and financial director roles have been filled with white males and the bank only has one African on its executive committee. The bank needs to be deliberate in grooming black professionals for these roles, and when the time arrives for black people to assume these roles, nothing should stand in their way.”

Mkhabela said Absa as an African group, had a chance to exhibit their commitment to transformation after the 2005 Barclays Bank transaction, but their senior black directors that were group operations director and group marketing directors left as the bank continued to treat black people as just employees and nothing else.

The PIC, a significant shareholder at Absa, expressed its “downright disappointment”. It believes this was a “missed opportunity for the Absa board to publicly demonstrate commitment to purposefully transform the banking group and to advance diversity, inclusivity and racial and gender equity at the most senior levels”.

– ericn@citizen.co.za