/ 25 November 2008

Nedbank splits business banking unit

Nedbank Group announced on Tuesday that its Business Banking division will become a stand-alone cluster.

Nedbank Group announced on Tuesday that the Business Banking division within Nedbank Corporate will become a stand-alone business cluster with effect from January 1 2009.

The chief executive of Business Banking, Ingrid Johnson, will then report directly to the group’s chief executive, Tom Boardman.

Business Banking services clients with annual turnovers up to R400-million and is differentiated in the market through its decentralised, regional structure and client-centric business model. The business has over 22 000 clients.

Nedbank Group’s client-facing structures will then comprise Nedbank Corporate, Nedbank Business Banking, Nedbank Capital, Nedbank Retail and Imperial Bank.

Boardman said the decision to create a new business cluster recognised the strategic importance of Business Banking within the group. “Business Banking has shown strong growth momentum in recent years under Ingrid Johnson’s leadership and in the last financial year accounted for 21% of the group’s headline earnings.”

Ingrid Johnson has 15 years experience at Nedbank and was previously head of Corporate Banking before being appointed to her current role in February 2005.

The group also announced that Mfundo Nkuhlu has been appointed deputy chief executive of the Nedbank Corporate business cluster while retaining his current responsibilities as chief executive of Corporate Banking.

Mfundo joined Nedbank in 2004 as head of Nedbank Africa and was appointed head of Corporate Banking the following year.

Prior to joining Nedbank he held senior executive positions at the South African Revenue Service and the Department of Trade and Industry. – I-Net Bridge