African Bank Group has announced the appointment of Kennedy Bungane as its chief executive.

The bank said Bungane, 46, assumed his position, following approval from the Prudential Authority.

The new chief executive has more than 20 years’ banking experience, having started his career at Standard Bank in 1991.

African Bank board chairperson Thabo Dloti said: “Kennedy has a keen sense for managing complex stakeholder issues. He has a proven track record in identifying and nurturing leadership, which promoted strong teams to deliver successful results. His passion for the role that banking can play in transforming society resonated strongly with the board.

“As an experienced banker, he also critically has a good grasp of the strategic challenges facing the Bank, within a muted South African economy and competitive landscape, as well as the required regulatory and governance framework.”

Bungane said he was honoured to have been selected.

“African Bank offers an opportunity to join a dynamic and enthusiastic team of colleagues in building the bank into a fully-fledged platform of personalised financial services and solutions to our customers,” he said.

“I believe I can play a meaningful role in the ongoing growth and transformation of the bank and continue to position it as a significant competitor within the South African financial services landscape.”

The bank said Bungane earned his banking and leadership stripes through holding several positions in the various departments within the bank, including head of global markets sales, head of institutional and corporate banking, and chief executive of corporate and investment banking for South Africa.

He served as a member of both the Standard Bank of SA executive committee and the Standard Bank Group executive committee.

In 2012, the bank said, Bungane joined Barclays Africa as chief executive of Barclays Africa Limited and Head of Absa Group strategy, where he led the sale of Barclays Africa Ltd to Absa Group and the formulation of the “One Barclays in African strategy”.

In his previous role, as the national president of the Association of Black Securities Investment Professionals, Kennedy played a significant role in the negotiations and drafting of the Financial Services Charter that was later gazetted by the Government as a Broad-based BEE Sector Code of good practice in the transformation of the financial services sector.

“He also brings diverse investment and strategic experience as the founder and non-executive chairman of Nokeng Telecoms as well as founder and chairman of Idwala Capital. Most recently, Kennedy was CEO of Phembani Group,” it said.

Kennedy holds a BCom from the University of Natal and an MBA from the University of Pretoria (GIBS campus). He completed the Advanced Management Programme from Harvard.

“We are thrilled to welcome Kennedy to our team and look forward to working together as we continue to build a strong leadership team and continue on our journey of transforming the Bank into a successful investible diversified retail bank,” Dloti said.