Absa Group has announced that Sello Moloko will be stepping down as Chairman of the Board and an Independent Non-Executive Director, effective 15 July 2025.

Mr Moloko, who has led the strategic work of the board, will be handing over the reins for the next phase of leadership and for him to focus on his family, personal business interests, and community commitments.

René van Wyk will succeed Mr. Moloko as Chairman of the Board effective 15 July 2025, subject to regulatory approval.

Mr Moloko said, “I feel honoured to have worked alongside such a talented and dedicated Board and with a management team that has shown invaluable resilience.

"The Board dealt with several challenges in 2024, and as a result, did work to reposition the Group for a more sustainable performance trajectory, which included appointing a permanent Chief Executive and initiating the restructuring of our retail operating model”.  

“These challenges have got me to reflect on the demands on myself and on my time. I feel the time is ripe now for me to refocus my attention on my family, my community commitments and the several personal business initiatives outside the Group that I need to drive.

"This will, naturally, adversely affect my ability to devote the requisite time to a group of the scale of Absa. Indeed, it has been a great privilege to serve as Chairman of the Absa Group Board,” Mr Moloko added.

Mr van Wyk was the interim Group Chief Executive Officer in 2019. He re-joined the Absa board, after a cooling-off period, as a non-executive director from 1 August 2020 and thereafter became an independent non-executive director from 1 August 2021.

He is the chairman of the Absa Group Risk and Capital Management Committee (GRCMC), and Group Credit Risk Committee (GCRC), and is a member of the Directors’ Affairs Committee (DAC) and the Group Audit and Compliance Committee (GACC) and was a member of the Board Finance Committee (BFC).  van Wyk’s committee memberships and chairmanships will be revised upon his appointment as Chairman.

Mr van Wyk is the former Registrar of Banks and head of banking supervision of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and retired from that position in May 2016.

Prior to that, van Wyk was with the Nedbank Group of companies from 1993 to 2011, where he occupied various positions, notably executive director responsible for risk at Nedcor Investment Bank, and CEO of Imperial Bank (a subsidiary of Nedbank).

Mr van Wyk holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Accounting Science (Hons), Advanced Management Programme (Insead), and is a Chartered Accountant, CA (SA).

Mr van Wyk said, “I am delighted to assume the reins as Absa Group’s Board chair at an exciting time in the organisation’s history. The organisation is well-positioned to advance its strategic priorities, and I look forward to contributing to its growth and success, alongside a strong management team.”

He added, “I am grateful to Mr Sello for his guidance, and I look forward to working with him on a seamless transition in the coming months.”

The Board expressed its sincere appreciation to Mr. Moloko for his leadership and service during his tenure, particularly his stewardship through a pivotal phase in Absa’s journey and wishes him continued success in his future endeavours.

It welcomed Mr van Wyk in the role of Chairman of the Board.