Fuzile takes the helm at SBSA
NATIONAL Treasury’s erstwhile director-general Lungisa Fuzile launched his foray into the private sector, assuming the helm of Standard Bank’s South Africa business (SBSA) as competition in the sector is expected to get stiffer next year. SBSA is the largest business in the Standard Bank Group.
Sim Tshabalala, the group chief executive of Standard Bank, said he had head-hunted Fuzile and believes he is an outstanding appointment to drive the group’s digitisation programme.
“Fuzile understands assets and liabilities which bodes well for him. In South Africa, we have assets worth R1.2 trillion and we have entrants who are coming in to compete with us.
“Fuzile’s job will be to help us co-ordinate the activities of personal and business banking, corporate investment banking and wealth business as they compete against the existing and new entrants,”
Tshabalala said.
The SA Reserve Bank earlier this year issued its first operating licence in 19 years to TymeDigital by Commonwealth Bank SA. Tyme‚ which allows customers to access funds through their mobile phones‚ was granted a provisional licence last year.
Tyme said it aimed to compete by providing “competitively priced‚ accessible banking services through a growing network of partners”.
The bank was expected to market its first banking product to the public by the middle of next year. In October, Discovery announced it has received its banking licence from South Africa’s Registrar of Banks in terms of the Banking Act.
Discovery’s banking unit is expected to be up and running by the middle of next year. The entrance of the two digital savvy businesses is expected to shake up the sector.
Standard Bank, in its 2016 Annual Report, said its core banking replacement journey in South Africa and Africa was on track to close by the end of the year. “Although it has been a long and costly exercise, we remain of the opinion that it provides us with the resilient platform required to compete in a digital world. Our innovation initiatives extend across analytics, robotics, cybersecurity and blockchain.”
Meanwhile, Fuzile’s appointment was well received by the markets, with Standard Bank’s share price closing the day 4.79 percent stronger at R178.35, valuing the group at more than R275 billion.