Chief Operating Officer CIB, Africa Regions

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together…one story at a time.

Job Summary

This executive leadership role serves as a regional portfolio integrator, performance insight partner, and execution enablement lead to the Managing Executive: CIB Africa Regions.
The role is accountable for collating, synthesising, and reporting the CIB Africa Regions portfolio across client coverage, markets, transactional banking, and investment banking, enabling informed decision making, prioritisation, and performance oversight.
Operating within CIB’s pan African model, the role ensures consistency of insight, governance, and execution cadence across African markets while working collaboratively with country and front office leadership teams.

Job Description

·         Acts as the regional portfolio coordination and performance insight hub, rather than direct front‑office owner

·         Collates and synthesises country and business performance into a single Africa Regions view

·         Enables transparent, comparable reporting and insight across diverse markets

·         Partners with, but does not replace, country and front‑office COO structures

·         Operates at the intersection of strategy, performance management, governance, and executive decision support

 

Key Focus Areas

This role provides a holistic, consolidated view of the Africa Regions CIB portfolio across businesses and countries, enabling data-led executive decision-making through high-quality reporting, performance insights and clear narratives, while supporting strategy execution through structured governance, tracking and escalation, driving consistency in performance management across markets, enabling cross-regional collaboration and alignment, and coordinating transformation initiatives with disciplined tracking and benefits realisation.

Core Accountabilities

1. Regional Portfolio Collation & Reporting

• Collate Africa Regions CIB performance across Coverage, Markets, Transactional Banking, and Investment Banking
• Develop integrated portfolio dashboards, management reports, and executive insights
• Ensure data integrity, comparability, and consistency across country submissions
• Translate complex performance data into clear executive narratives and recommendations
• Provide forward‑looking insights on risks, opportunities, and performance trends

 

2. Strategy Execution Oversight & Enablement

• Translate regional strategy into measurable execution themes and tracking frameworks
• Monitor progress against strategic priorities across countries and businesses
• Highlight delivery risks, dependencies, and execution gaps for executive intervention
• Enable alignment between strategic objectives, financial plans, and execution outcomes
• Support prioritisation decisions through scenario and impact analysis

 

 

3. COO / Chief of Staff Community Coordination

• Coordinate the Africa Regions COO / Chief of Staff community to ensure information flow and alignment
• Facilitate sharing of best practice, insights, and lessons across markets
• Enable consistent execution and reporting rhythms without direct line authority
• Act as the regional escalation and coordination point for cross‑market dependencies

• Strengthen collaboration between regional, country, and front‑office structures

 

5. Performance, Financial & Portfolio Insight

• Own regional performance management frameworks and reporting standards
• Consolidate financial, balance sheet, and productivity insights for executive review
• Track delivery against budgets, targets, and strategic commitments
• Provide insight‑led recommendations to the Managing Executive and leadership forums
• Enable disciplined performance conversations across diverse markets

 

6. Governance, Risk & Regulatory Oversight (Coordination Role)

·       Coordinate regional governance, risk, and regulatory reporting across jurisdictions

·       Provide consolidated visibility of key operational, conduct, and regulatory risks

·       Track audit findings, remediation actions, and regulatory commitments at a portfolio level

·       Support consistent governance standards without duplicating country accountability

·       Enable proactive escalation of emerging risk themes

 

7. Executive Enablement & Stakeholder Management

·       Act as a trusted thought partner to the Managing Executive: CIB Africa Regions

·       Orchestrate executive forums, reporting packs, and leadership agendas

·       Enable clear, consistent communication across markets and businesses

·       Support alignment between regional leadership, country executives, and Group stakeholders

·       Influence outcomes through insight, coordination, and credibility rather than authority

 

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

 

Education/ Qualification:
Post Graduate Degree: Honours Degree, Post Graduate Diploma and Professional Qualifications . A Legal Qualification would be advantageous.

 

Please note: Extensive travel is an inherent requirement of this role.

 

Work Experience:

• Postgraduate Degree (Honours / PGDip / Professional Qualification — NQF8).
• 5+ years in Financial Services with senior leadership experience in strategy/enablement roles.
• Prior experience working in a pan-African regional role within a complex operating environment.
• Experience leading cross regional programmes in complex, multi market environments.
• Demonstrated success in capability development, transformation, and client centric strategy execution.
• Exposure to digital transformation and data driven decision making.15 years’ experience in a specifically in business strategy enablement including a track record of 5 years in a people management position in a large enterprise.
• Experience must include developing integrated customer-centric product or service solutions or corporate practice development while working with and managing stakeholders across business and/or functional areas and budget management.
• Exposure to digital transformation and data-driven decision-making is preferred.

 

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COMPETENCIES

 

Leadership Competencies:

·       Strategic Thinking

·       Business Acumen

·       Excellent Communication

·       Delivering Results

·       Influencing senior stakeholders across multiple jurisdictions

·       Leadership without direct line management

·       Creativity and Innovation

·       Adaptability

·       Collaboration

·       Project Management

 

Knowledge and Skills:

·       Corporate and competitive strategy formulation.

·       Client coverage operating models and market analysis.

·       Legal, Governance, Risk and Compliance frameworks.

·       Digital platforms (incl. Salesforce), data insights and analytics.

·       Financial modelling, business planning, and performance management.

·       Data‑driven decisioning

·       Operational excellence

 

 

Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications

Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.

Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised