The Black Business Council (BBC) on Thursday encouraged Nedbank to appoint a black CEO.
Nedbank announced on Friday last week that it was seeking a new CEO as Mike Brown, its CEO, is set to retire after 14 years at the helm.
Nedbank said in its voluntary trading statement last week that it would commence a process to choose a successor to Brown, supported by a global search firm with a strong domestic presence.
Nedbank said it had a strong track record of effective leadership succession, and this process would consider both internal and external candidates.
BBC said Nedbank was the only bank amongst the big four banks that never had a black CEO and the impending retirement Brown presented a perfect opportunity to “rectify this anomaly”.
“The constant excuse provided by corporates that there are no well qualified and experienced black people who can occupy this important position is mute, ” it said.
The other banks had proven this myth wrong as they did well and are still performing well being led by able black CEOs.
“The BBC calls on the Nedbank's board of directors to do the right thing, ” it said.
Business Report reported in its Nedbank succession story published on Monday that the lender hadn't revealed what they are looking for in a candidate.
Global Business Solutions chairperson Jonathan Goldberg said in his view under-represented designation groups should be a focus when companies hired new candidates, BR reported.
“We have compulsory legislation in this country called the Employment Equity Act. We have to look at the executive and we have to say, well, where are we under-represented for the designated group, and the designated group is mainly black, African, coloured and Indian, which is defined as black.
“We have to work backward. So let’s assume that at the executive we are under-represented of African males and African females, that should be our focus here.
BUSINESS REPORT