Kenny Fihla is raiding Rothschild, Standard Bank and Deutsche Bank to rebuild Absa into Africa's deal bank

Kenny Fihla has been chief executive of Absa Group for less than a year. He has already raided Standard Bank, Deutsche Bank and now Rothschild and Co.

Absa confirmed May 12 that Giles Douglas, managing director and Africa co-head of Rothschild and Co South Africa, will join the bank as managing executive of its investment bank from July 27. Douglas will report to Zaid Moola, who was also recently hired from Standard Bank Group as chief of corporate and investment banking, a unit Fihla has made the centerpiece of his growth agenda.

Douglas brings more than 30 years of investment banking experience, with a deal sheet that reads like a summary of Africa's most consequential corporate transactions. At Rothschild, he advised on Anglo American Plc's separation of its platinum business, now known as Valterra Platinum, Petroliam Nasional Bhd's sale of Engen and the ongoing process around Shell Plc's downstream South Africa assets. These are the kinds of transactions that define a dealmaker's reputation on the continent, and Fihla has moved quickly to secure the man who advised on them.

The appointment is part of a broader talent offensive that has moved with unusual speed since Fihla took over in June 2025. He brought Moola from Standard Bank, where Moola had led global markets. He hired Musa Motloung, also from Standard Bank, to serve as group strategic risk officer. He appointed Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, formerly managing director of M-Pesa Africa, to head personal and private banking. He recruited Saloshni Pillay, Deutsche Bank South Africa's chief executive and country manager, to lead the investment bank in South Africa. And he brought Clive Potter from Standard Bank to head client coverage at the investment bank. Douglas now steps in alongside Pillay to complete what Fihla is building.

The reason for the urgency is not hidden. Absa acknowledged in its annual results presentation that shareholders were dissatisfied with the performance of its South African retail businesses and the depth of talent in its executive team. The lender, which operates across 12 African countries, had six chief executives between 2019 and Fihla's appointment, an era of instability that cost it market share in home loans, deposits and investment banking advisory. Fihla's enduring legacy at Standard Bank was growing its corporate and investment banking division into a juggernaut. Under his watch as chief executive of that unit from 2017 to 2024, Standard Bank CIB doubled its headline earnings to R20.5 billion (roughly $1.1 billion) and achieved a compound annual growth rate of 8.6%. Absa wants that outcome replicated on its own balance sheet.

The hiring has not been cheap. Absa's remuneration committee chair Rose Keanly acknowledged in her shareholder statement that bringing in high-caliber candidates at this level carries upfront acquisition costs. She said the board concluded the investment was necessary to build a sound foundation for materially improved performance over the medium to long term.

Since Fihla's appointment in June 2025, Absa's share price has climbed approximately 30%, outpacing the 20% gain in the FTSE/JSE Banks Index over the same period. The market appears to have already begun pricing in what he is building. Absa has also recently acquired Standard Chartered Plc's Ugandan unit and HSBC Holdings Plc's retail and business banking portfolio in Mauritius, expanding its African footprint operationally alongside the executive buildout.

Douglas arrives at a bank that is still in the process of becoming what its chief executive says it can be. The deal sheet he brings from Rothschild is a signal about the level of competition Absa intends to put up.