Absa Group said in its annual report that its CEO since June last year Kenny Fihla had provided strong directional leadership of the group since joining in June 2025.
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Absa Group’s annual meeting took a surprising turn when a resolution on the remuneration of non-executive directors failed to pass muster with shareholders at the AGM, while all the other resolutions were passed.
The results of the AGM Tuesday showed that the resolution for the endorsement of the special resolution for the approval of non-executive director remuneration was only passed by shareholders holding 56.63% of the shares; 43.37% of the shares voted against the resolution. Additionally, shareholders with 10.88% of the shares voted against the non-binding advisory vote on the endorsement of the remuneration policy.
Absa stated that as a result of there being more than 25% of the votes exercised against the non-binding advisory vote number 2 on non-executive directors, shareholders would be invited to raise their concerns or recommendations on remuneration implementation.
Shareholders often vote against resolutions on director remuneration, and this often results in changes to associated policies being implemented. Shareholders approved all Absa’s remuneration proposals at the previous year’s AGM.
The proposed non-executive board fees for June 1, 2026, to May 31, 2027, included R8,124,334 for the board chairman, R290,406 for the lead independent director, and R728,556 for board members. In addition, a special board meeting would attract a fee of R47,425 per meeting, while special ad hoc and subcommittee meetings would attract fees of R29,413 per meeting.
The previous year, the board chairman received R7,774,483, the lead non-executive director received R277,805, while a board committee member received R700,534 for the year. Attending a special ad hoc board meeting attracted a fee of R29,313, while attending a special board meeting would attract a fee of R47,425.
As far as executive director remuneration goes, Absa Group’s CEO, Kenny Fihla, who joined the bank in June last year, and who, according to a Daily Investor report, recently declined an offer to be the potential ANC Mayor in Johannesburg, earned the lion’s share of Absa’s executive committee remuneration last year, at R148.04 million. The remuneration for the committee of four directors came to R180.65 million.
His remuneration also surpassed that of the CEO of Standard Bank, the bank where Fihla was formerly employed, in 2025. Standard Bank’s CEO, Sim Tshabalala, earned single-figure remuneration of R106.39 million in 2025, a figure that was 19.3% higher than the previous year.
Absa stated in its annual report that Fihla had provided strong directional leadership of the group since joining in June 2025. The group had made progress in terms of strategy reset and operating model changes, the full benefits of which would become evident in the next 12 to 18 months. Kenny had also made several key senior hires, and “the bench strength of the group is being bolstered under his watch through the attraction of talent both in business and function roles.”
BUSINESS REPORT