Silent swansong for Absa’s Maria
Ramos takes back seat as bank issues results, searches for successor
● For the first time in a decade, Absa’s annual results will not be led by Maria Ramos. And interim CEO Rene van Wyk, 10 days into the job, will also take a back seat when the bank reports next Monday.
Instead, CFO Jason Quinn, who has been head of finance for five years, will be taking the reins at the presentation, according to a company insider.
Ramos’s resignation last month took markets and industry insiders by surprise. And though the bank has said it has a clear plan for succession, many in the investment community find that hard to believe.
The company has said it hopes to announce a full-time successor to Ramos by the time it reports interim results in September, but that leaves the bank on autopilot for at least half a year — and probably longer as most serving executives at other companies would be obliged to cool off for a period before taking on a new job. The bank has said it will not promote someone from within.
It is unlikely that Van Wyk will give his own flavour to the bank.
“Either he will continue to implement strategies previously [drawn up] by the Ramos leadership team, or just keep the ship on course until a permanent CEO is appointed,” said FNB Wealth head of equity research Chantal Marx.
But he is viewed as a safe pair of hands, having served as registrar of banks and worked at Nedbank for nearly two decades.
A Bloomberg report that Reserve Bank deputy governor David Mminele is on the short list carried the usual response: Mminele and Absa declined to comment.
But it does stoke an expectation that Absa could again pull in a leader from a discipline outside traditional banking.
Ramos was CEO of Transnet before joining Absa. Before that she was the directorgeneral at the National Treasury.
Her predecessor Steve Booysen was plucked from academia to join Trust Bank before it was joined with United, Allied and Volkskas to complete the Amalgamated Banks of SA (Absa) in the early 1990s. Booysen, who had been a lecturer in accounting at Unisa, worked his way up the ranks, ending as CEO from 2004 to 2009.
The nation’s third-largest bank by market capitalisation lost ground to most of its competitors in retail banking during Ramos’s tenure, especially in home loans — where it was the market leader before Britain’s Barclays took it over in 2005. But after the financial crisis in 2008 its British parent enforced much more stringent lending criteria.
Ramos’s reign was a mixed bag. To a certain extent she was constrained by Barclays. But many investors think Absa should have performed better.
“Just look at the reaction of the share price on the day she resigned, that shows you enough,” said RECM boss Piet Viljoen. Absa shares rallied 6% when Ramos announced she would step down.
But going for another public sector appointee is not necessarily a bad thing. It depends more on who is selected than where she or he comes from.
“Success in the public sector is arguably more of a challenge and speaks to the quality of an individual who can make this happen. Influence in the public area could be an advantage from a regulatory perspective,” said Marx.
Over the past three years, Barclays has sold its stake in Absa down to a minority. But the damage was done. Absa’s market value hovers close to that of smaller rivals Nedbank and Capitec. And the environment is set to become more competitive.
Insurer Discovery will be making a hard play for some of Absa’s higher-end clients with its behavioural bank from this month.
Capitec, which has attracted clients from most banks in the past five years with its thrifty and simple account offering, is continuing its march with a credit card division that is building scale. Business accounts are on the way.
TymeBank, backed by African Rainbow Capital Investments, has plans to lure millions of clients away from traditional banks with its digital approach.
How much lost ground Absa will be able to make up during such a competitive onslaught and while it awaits a new CEO will only be clear by the time the company reports annual results next year.