Speculation has been rife for months that South African Reserve Bank’s (SARB’s) former deputy governor Daniel Mminele would be Absa’s next boss after Maria Ramos resigned last year, today it was confirmed, he will take over on the 15th January.

However Viv Govender, a Senior Analyst at Rand Swiss reckons Mminele might not be the right fit. He believes someone from the IT or technology field would have been a better fit to deal with the structural changes in the banking industry that have seen new players, such as TymeBank and Bank Zero entering the market.

Mminele has extensive banking experience. In a statement from Absa it said  Mminele  recently completed his "second five-year term as Deputy Governor of SARB, where his responsibilities included Financial Markets, International Economic Relations and Policy, and Human Capital and Operations. Among others, he was a member of the Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee. Prior to joining the SARB in September 1999, he worked for African Merchant Bank and Commerzbank in South Africa, and WestLB in the UK and Germany for 12 years, commencing in 1987. Daniel previously earned a German banking qualification and obtained various associate certificates from the Institute of Bankers in the UK".