HSBC South Africa CEO Muneer Ismail joins FirstRand to lead corporate banking

Source: Reuters.

Ismail joins the group from HSBC where he was the chief executive officer of HSBC South Africa.

Ismail will be responsible for the group’s strategy to service commercial and corporate clients in a more integrated way, which FirstRand believes will be key to further scaling the group’s corporate banking offerings.

Source: FirstRand's Group Executive: Corporate and Enterprise Banking, Muneer Ismail.

Currently, the enterprise segment, which primarily represents medium-sized corporates, sits within FNB, while the corporate bank resides in RMB.

Significant synergies exist between these client segments, and to further unlock these synergies, the group has created a dedicated senior executive capacity.

Commenting on the appointment Vilakazi said, “We are incredibly privileged to attract someone of Muneer’s calibre given his track record at HSBC and prior to that, his role as chief executive officer at Deutsche Bank South Africa.

"Muneer brings with him deep knowledge of the needs of medium and large corporates and multinational companies operating in South Africa and the broader African region. He will be in an excellent position to assist in the integration of the clients that will move across to RMB following the completion of the previously announced transaction with HSBC.

"We are very excited at the prospects for further scale and growth this strategy represents for the group."

Ismail originally studied engineering and he has subsequently built a long and successful career in banking both locally and internationally.