Absa has lost another senior executive, and this time the departure marks a turning point rather than a setback.
Yasmin Masithela, the bank’s former interim chief executive of Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB), opted for early retirement, stepping down from her executive role on 30 June 2026. She will serve out her contractual notice period on garden leave until the end of December. Her exit follows that of Punki Modise, head of strategy and sustainability, who left earlier this year, and comes as South Africa’s third largest bank rebuilds its executive ranks around a pan-African growth strategy.
Absa credited Masithela with a distinguished 15 year career at the bank, having held roles including interim CIB CEO, managing executive for transactional banking, and group chief compliance officer.
“Yasmin has made a significant contribution to the group over a distinguished 15-year career,” the bank said, adding that it wished her well in her future endeavours.
According to a News24 report, she had been placed on medical leave roughly six months into her interim CIB role. Throughout her tenure, she worked alongside Charles Russon, the former CIB CEO who now serves as group executive for Africa regions.
A new team takes shape around Fihla
Kenny Fihla, who joined Absa a year ago from rival Standard Bank, is driving the changes. He wants CIB to lead the charge in growing Absa’s market share across the continent, and he has already brought in the people he wants running it.
Zaid Moola, who worked under Fihla at Standard Bank’s dominant CIB division, now heads Absa’s CIB. Sitoyo Lopokoiyit takes over as CEO of personal and private banking, while Leonard Barnard steps into the role of CEO for business banking. Together, the appointments signal a leadership team built less around internal continuity and more around outside experience.
Why analysts see this as overdue
Radebe Sipamla, co-portfolio manager at Mergence, argues the shift addresses a problem that has lingered inside Absa for years. “Mediocrity has been tolerated for the longest time, and no one has been held to account,” he said. He believes fresh outside talent could break down what he calls a toxic performance culture at the bank.
Sipamla also connects the reshuffle to a broader industry shift. Absa’s strategy no longer centres on South Africa alone; it now aims to build synergies between South Africa and the rest of the continent. That shift, he says, reflects how technology and regulatory changes from the South African Reserve Bank and other regulators have opened banking to more competitors.
“Banking is not just going to be the way it was in the past,” Sipamla said. “It is going to be, ‘What service can you provide to your clients at a lower cost?’, and technology will enable that.”
He pointed to Absa’s move into a mobile virtual network operator as evidence the bank is responding to pressure from fintechs, and welcomed the appointment of an outsider who will not think about banking in the old way.
The pressure to deliver
The leadership overhaul lands at an uncomfortable moment. Absa’s share price fell on the JSE this week after the bank warned in its trading statement for the six months to June that return on equity for 2026 would land around 15%, weighed down by lower than expected interest income and margin pressure across its Africa regions.
Sipamla reads the downgrade as an admission that Absa overreached earlier in the year. “It would have been better if they were conservative when setting the targets in March,” he said.
“For the longest time there was a management discount in Absa. If they don’t start to deliver later this year, it will be difficult to convince the market that things are changing at Absa under Kenny.”
