Barclays divorce was Lucas-Bull’s ‘biggest challenge and feat’
Project completed on time and R1bn under budget, says outgoing Absa chair as she tells of the challenges
Wendy Lucas-Bull, who steps down as Absa chair at end-March, says the biggest challenge of her nine years at the helm was overseeing the bank’s divorce from Barclays, its former UK parent that once owned as much as 62.3% of the lender.
She also cites the separation as the biggest achievement of her term, which in the past two years alone saw her grapple with a global pandemic; the sudden exit of Absa’s first black CEO; a series of significant data leaks; and the economic fallout of the July 2021 riots that rocked parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. More recently Absa found itself embroiled in a nasty legal battle with former board member Sipho Pityana, who is now suing the bank and the Prudential Authority (PA) after losing out to Sello Moloko as Lucas-Bull’s replacement...
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