Kenny Fihla

Group Chief Executive Officer, Absa Group

Kenny Fihla is Group Chief Executive Officer of Absa Group, in the role since June 2025.

Absa is a Johannesburg-based pan-African banking group operating in 17 countries. Fihla launched a new pan-African operating model in January 2026 after taking over from an interim chief executive.

In the job

  1. Presented Absa's first interim results under his leadership, with headline earnings up 17% and an interim dividend of 785 cents a share. Source

  2. Launched a new pan-African operating model that folded the Africa Regions personal and business banking segment into the group-wide segments. Source

  3. Reported interim results for the six months to June 2026 and raised the interim dividend by 8% to 850 cents a share. Source

Career before

  1. 2006-2008Head of Investor Services, Corporate and Investment Banking, Standard Bank Group
  2. 2008-2016Head of Transactional Products and Services, South Africa, Standard Bank CIB
  3. 2016-2017Deputy chief executive, Standard Bank CIB
  4. 2017-2024Chief executive, Standard Bank CIB
  5. 2024-2025Deputy Group CEO, Standard Bank Group, and CEO, Standard Bank South Africa

Education

MSc in Financial Economics, University of London; MBA, University of the Witwatersrand

Sources

  1. absa.africa
  2. ewn.co.za
  3. dailyinvestor.com
  4. persfin.co.za
  5. en.wikipedia.org

Facts last checked 3 November 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.

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