How Riley intends to turn bank around
NEW CEO: BRIAN RILEY BRINGS A WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE
Brian Riley, CEO-designate of failed lender African Bank’s Good Bank, says his initial focus will be on financial, operational and brand strategy.
Abils new “good bank” CEO will have his work cut out for him as he goes about turning it around.
Brian Riley, retired WesBank CEO, has been appointed CEO designate of failed lender African Bank’s Good Bank, and its new holding company, with immediate effect.
Riley’s initial focus will be on developing Good Bank’s financial, operational and brand strategy, according to a statement issued by African Bank curator, Tom Winterboer.
Stabilising influence
Winterboer, who was appointed curator by the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) on August 10 after African Bank Investment Holdings (Abil) collapsed beneath a pile of bad debt, remains on board to stabilise and restructure African Bank’s operations.
Winterboer, who is PwC’s financial services leader for Africa, has applied for a banking licence for Good Bank, but awaits changes to the Banks Act (via the Banks Act Amendment Bill) in order to have legal grounds to restructure the bank and so form Good Bank.
After serving for seven years as CEO of WesBank, having been with the company since 1988, UK-born Riley retired in December 2013.
“During this time he was also an executive member of a five person FirstRand Bank Limited strategic committee, responsible for the formulation and execution of the FirstRand Bank Limited strategy,” the statement said.
Riley has worked at Lloyds, Scottish Finance Group and the Provident Financial Group.
He holds an Advanced Executive Programme diploma from the University of South Africa, and completed an Advanced Management Programme at Harvard Business School, USA in 2004.
“We are thrilled that Brian has accepted this position. He joins recently appointed chairman designate, Louis von Zeuner as the second designate appointment to Good Bank, which will assist me to focus on my curatorship duties, knowing that an important stream of work is being undertaken in preparation for the successful formation of Good Bank,” Winterboer said.
Clearer path
Von Zeuner was former deputy group chief executive of Absa.
Riley said he intended to “define a clearer path forward in due course”. “My first challenge will be to mobilise the Bank’s existing resource base into a defined strategy that can sustain Good Bank over the short to medium future,” he said.