Thebe Mabanga
Renowned banker Kennedy Bungane has resigned as group chief executive of African Bank, ending a five-year stint in which he oversaw the lender’s push to broaden itself from a mono-line unsecured lender into a diversified personal and business bank.
African Bank said in a SENS announcement on Friday that Bungane had stepped down as group CEO and as an executive director of African Bank and African Bank Holdings effective 6 March 2026, and that Zwelibanzi “Zweli” Nelson Manyathi had been appointed interim group CEO, subject to regulatory approval.
“Mr Kennedy Bungane has stepped down as the Group’s Chief Executive Officer and as an executive director of African Bank and African Bank Holdings Limited Boards of effective 6 March 2026,” African Bank said in the announcement.
“[Consequently], Kennedy resigns his memberships of the Social, Ethics and Transformation and the Special Projects and Large Exposures board committees.”
The bank said the boards were “appreciative to Kennedy for his significant contribution in the crafting and implementation of the Excelerate Strategy, which aimed to transform the bank from a mono-line unsecured lender into a customer-centric, data and digitally enabled diversified, sustainable and scalable personal and business bank”.
African Bank said that strategy included the acquisitions of Ubank, Grindrod Bank and some Sasfin Bank businesses.
Bungane took up the role in April 2021 after African Bank announced his appointment following the resignation of Basani Maluleke, who had led the lender from 2018 and stepped down in early 2021.
His departure comes more than a decade after African Bank’s near-collapse, when the lender was placed under curatorship in August 2014 and later restructured and recapitalised before emerging from curatorship in 2016.
In results for the year to September 2025, which marked 50 years of operation, African Bank said non-interest income rose 39% to R2.1 billion from R1.5 billion, driven by growth in usage of its MyWORLD transactional and credit card accounts.
Insurance income fell to R582 million from R821 million, while net advances rose 15% to R37.1 billion, driven by 49% growth in business and commercial banking.
Bungane, who has more than two decades of banking experience, previously held senior roles at Standard Bank and Barclays Africa and later served as chief executive of investment firm Pembani Group before returning to banking with African Bank.
He is the former President of the Association for Black Securities and Investment Professionals (ABSIP) and in that role, led the negotiations of the Financial Services Sector Charter, adopted in 2003, and against his boss at the time, former Standard Bank CEO Jaco Maree.
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