Absa has appointed former SA Reserve Bank deputy governor Daniel Mminele as CEO. He wil start on January 15th.

He will be the first black CEO of the bank.

Absa CEO Maria Ramos retired at the end of February 2019, when she turned 60.

Subscribe to Fin24’s newsletter here Mminele retired from the Reserve Bank in June, and was presumed to be serving a "cooling off" notice period of six months before he takes over at Absa. His appointment at Absa was widely expected in the market.

* This article was updated at 19:47 on Monday 6 January to reflect that Mr Mminele retired from the Reserve Bank in June.

Mminele was born in 1965 in Phalaborwa, but went to school in Germany and received a degree from London Guildhall University.

After working in the banking sector in the UK and Germany, he returned to South Africa in 1995 to join Commerzbank in Johannesburg. He then briefly worked at African Merchant Bank, before before joining the Reserve Bank in September 1999.

He served in the bank’s financial markets and international banking departments, before being appointed as deputy governor responsible for financial markets and international economic relations.