Absa’s revival threatened by turmoil at the top

Absa’s loss in late April of Daniel Mminele, its first black chief executive, has only served to emphasize how far South Africa still has to go in diversifying the senior ranks of its banking sector even after 40 years of democratic government. Mminele’s exit saw some more junior staff protesting, placards in hand, outside the bank’s headquarters. The damaging optics and disruption around the departure raise questions over why the decision was made and what comes next for the bank that only completed its separation from former parent Barclays last year.