Experts hail orderly change at the helm of FirstRand
FIRSTRAND chief executive Sizwe Nxasana is to step down after running Africa’s largest banking group for five years and will be replaced in October by his deputy, Johan Burger.
Nxasana had been invited to join the company’s board as deputy chairman in 2017, spokeswoman Sam Moss said on Friday.
Nxasana took over from Paul Harris as chief executive in January 2010. FirstRand’s share price has since more than tripled, outstripping growth by its three largest rivals including Barclays Africa Group and Standard Bank. Some former FirstRand chief executives, such as Laurie Dippenaar, have gone on to be chairman of the group.
“Sizwe is a great chief executive and will be missed, but Johan is very strong and shows depth of internal management,” Tracy Brodziak, a banking analyst at Old Mutual Investment Group in Cape Town, said on Friday. The succession was a “good” thing for the company, she said.
Burger has been Nxasana’s deputy since 2013. He has been with the group since 1987, including serving terms as chief financial officer and chief operations officer.
“Johan Burger is an excellent appointment,” said Craig Pheiffer, the general manager of investment at Absa Asset Management Private Clients in Johannesburg. “He knows the business and the industry intimately and his appointment gives the group time to groom the next cohort of senior management. A very steady hand on the tiller.” Nxasana’s decision “follows a succession process which started at the beginning of 2014”, the company said in a separate statement. “Sizwe believes that, given the five years he has served in his current role as chief executive of the group, with four years served as the chief executive of FirstRand Bank, and in light of FirstRand’s progress in implementing its strategy, it is time for him to step down.”
Burger’s deputy will be Alan Pullinger, the head of the investment banking unit, Rand Merchant Bank.
“Pullinger joined the group in 1998 and has been the chief executive of RMB since 2008, overseeing a successful restructuring of the business model,” FirstRand said. “The process to find a successor chief executive of RMB has commenced and the appointment will be announced in due course.”
FirstRand rose 1.11 percent to R54.58 in Johannesburg trading. The banks index was 0.22 percent higher.
The “succession has been well managed”, said Patrice Rassou, the head of equities at Sanlam Investment Management in Cape Town. “Alan Pullinger is also very strategic. I think Sizwe is an inspirational leader and will be missed.”