Standard Bank Names Tshabalala as First Sole Black CEO

• Standard Bank Names Tshabalala as First Sole Black CEO

Africa’s largest Bank, Standard Bank Group Ltd. named Sim Tshabalala as Chief Executive Office, putting an end to a dual role he shared with Ben Kruger.

Kruger, 58, will step down immediately and work as an executive director, reporting to
Tshabalala, the Johannesburg-based Standard Bank said in a statement released on Tuesday.

According to the lender, the joint leadership structure was part of the company’s succession plan and was first introduced in March 2013.

However, this move came after President Jacob Zuma criticized commercial lenders for not doing much to boost black participation in their organizations since apartheid ended in 1994. The president blamed commercial banks for not reflecting the country’s demographics.

“The joint CEO structure worked very well,” said Adrian Cloete, banks analyst at PSG Wealth in Cape Town. “Most shareholders are usually comfortable with a single CEO, but I don’t think that this should be cast in stone. As the senior executives at Standard Bank have been together a long time and have a great working relationship, I don’t expect any major changes in strategy.”

Sim Tshabalala, 49, joined the group in 2000 and was appointed as the group executive committee in 2001.

He became the managing director of Stanbic Africa in 2001 and served until 2006 before been appointed as the chief executive of PBB. In 2008, became the chief executive of SBSA and later was appointed group chief executive of SBG alongside Ben Kruger.