Luvuyo Masinda is now the prince in Standard Bank’s CIB business
Luvuyo Masinda, who is still in his 40s, has emerged as one of the key players at Standard Bank with the recent change in the role of his boss Kenny Fihla, who is now playing a more prominent role at group level.
Masinda, 44, has been promoted deputy CEO of the lender s corporate and investment (CIB) business in a move that allows Fihla to help group CEO Sim Tshabalala run the vast organisation, with assets north of R2.5-trillion. Fihla will remain as CIB s CEO for the foreseeable future, with Masinda set to be groomed for the role.
A chartered accountant, Masinda joined Standard Bank or Big Blue , as the lender is called due to the size of its balance sheet in 2007, working in the financial accounting department.
He grew through the ranks of Africas largest bank by assets over the years, holding posts such as head of client coverage and investment banking (CIB) and CFO of the key unit.
His ascension to deputy to Fihla has earned him a place in the group s exco, which reports directly to Tshabalala. Luvuyo previously held the role of chief risk officer for CIB, has successfully led their finance and client coverage teams, and will bring deep financial and commercial insight to his new role. Luvuyo has joined the group leadership council, said a Standard Bank spokesman.
The council is made up of the group s top brass including CFO Arno Daehnke, COO Margaret Nienaber, Liberty CEO Yuresh Maharaj, the bank s SA business head, Lungisa Fuzile, the CEO of consumer and high net worth individuals Funeka Montjane, and its Africa regions head Yinka Sanni. Business Day reported on Monday that Tshabalala had handed Fihla more responsibilities as he turns his focus to aspects of his role that deserve a higher level of attention in the planning horizon to 2030, including the growth of our Africa Regions portfolio .
Standard Bank said that the transitions at the C-suite level in the past five years have been largely seamless, with the majority of these being as a result of executives retiring or exploring alternative career opportunities with the group. The group has a robust leadership pipeline and talent management framework to ensure the adequacy of succession planning for all key roles, as well as the development of young talent across its business lines, corporate functions and geographies, the company told Business Day.
Standard Banks CIB unit is key to the fortunes of the group, serving large companies, multinationals, governments, parastatals and institutional clients all over Africa and internationally.
CIB generated corporate total income of R48.8bn for the group in its last financial year. The business has positioned itself to play a leading role in financing just-transition projects across the 20 territories where it does business in Africa, including its SA home market.
Financing sustainable energy infrastructure is the fastestgrowing part of the group s CIB business, and it expects to have achieved at least R250bn in sustainable finance origination by 2026.
In the groups 2022 annual report published in 2023, Fihla said that financing renewable energy projects provide the unit s biggest growth opportunity. Our leading position as a renewable energy funder in SA means we are ideally placed to power Africas growth through renewables and natural gas the single largest growth opportunity for CIB in the coming years, he said.
The global sustainable finance market is enjoying exponential growth.
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