"We are ready to hit the road M, we will do all nine countries and 10 banks, we will get it done in the two weeks, that’s all we have," Peter Matlare told me in early 2018.We had reached an important milestone in Absa’s separation from Barclays Plc. Peter and the Rest of Africa team (now Africa Regional Operations, or ARO) were about to embark on a critical trip to share the progress we had made with the boards and regulators across the continent.In 2016, Barclays Plc had taken the decision to reduce its shareholding in Barclays Africa (now Absa Group). The operational impact of that decision was felt most acutely in the Rest of Africa operations. Peter had joined the board of Barclays Africa in 2011 as an independent nonexecutive director. He brought to the board extensive knowledge and experience as a senior executive and, importantly for us, he understood the complexity and opportunities of doing business in multiple countries across Africa. One of the best decisions I made as CE...

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