Rene van Wyk: The unlikely CEO helping transform ABSA's fortunes

One of my biggest surprises of the past year was seeing ABSA's long-time CEO Maria Ramos's resignation a few days after our interview in late January at the WEF meeting in Switzerland. As SA's new president Cyril Ramaphosa was a regular visitor to the high profile ABSA presence on Davos's Promenade, the immediate assumption was that Ramos had been called back into National Service. Whatever the motive, her departure at the end of February put an unlikely new CEO into the ABSA hot seat - former Nedbanker, ABSA main board director and erstwhile Registrar of Banks Rene van Wyk. For the past half year Van Wyk has kept a low profile ahead of the permanent new ABSA CEO who takes over next year. But he's been doing a lot more than keeping the seat warm, as I discovered in this fascinating chat at WEF Africa last week. - Alec Hogg