Ramos, who will turn 60 in February, led the lender for 10 years, and will be replaced as interim CEO by René van Wyk from March 1, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. With the separation from Barclays on track "and our new strategy as a standalone financial institution in place, Maria feels that this is the right time to retire."
When asked at an interview in Davos last week on whether she plans to retire, Ramos said: "I made a commitment and when I do something I do it completely and totally and when the time comes to do something else I will think about that."
The CEO – who helped draw up South Africa's constitution and served as a director-general at the Ministry of Finance under the late President Nelson Mandela – led Absa through a number of milestones, the lender said. That included guiding the bank through the financial crisis and acquisition of eight of Barclays African units for R18.3bn ($1.3bn) in 2013, the largest African purchase yet by a South African bank. The deal transformed Absa into a pan-African lender.
Ramos in March brought in new management and restructured the retail and business banking unit – which accounts for more than half of earnings and deposits and 60% of loans. Since Barclays sold its controlling stake down to below 16%, Absa has also rebooted its image and revamped its other management teams. It's appointed a new corporate and investment banking head, and expressed the willingness to take on more risk.
The shares climbed as much as 3.9% to R182.39, the highest since May 2018, before paring gains to trade 2.9% up at R180.65 as of 9:41am in Johannesburg. The stock has jumped 12% this year, outperforming the six-member FTSE/JSE Africa Banks Index.
"They seem to be on the right path with the strategy," said Avior's Botha. "But they still need to execute."
Other key points from Absa:
- Van Wyk was previously the Registrar of Banks at the South African Reserve Bank and has 19 years experience with another of the country's big four banks. Most recently he sat on Absa's board as a non-executive director.
- Ramos led the separation negotiations with Barclays, which resulted in a R12.6bn upfront contribution plus R2bn earmarked for black-economic empowerment. The sell-down by Barclays involved two book builds with the second one worth R38bn, a record for South Africa.
- Over the past decade, Absa grew its dividends per share 82% through to last June, and paid a R6bn special dividend in 2013.
- It's Tier 1 capital ratio also improved to 12.8% on a Basel III basis from 11.6%.
