First National Bank CEO Michael Jordaan may be planning to leave the bank at the end of the year, according to a report. The 44-year-old has been CEO since 2004 and has been instrumental in driving its digital strategy, including the development of mobile banking applications and its drive to get consumers to use digital channels by subsidising smartphones and tablet computers.
Moneyweb reported on Friday that two sources close to the bank had told the financial news website that Jordaan was planning to step down. According to the report, Jordaan has communicated his intention to step down prior to the furore this week over the bank’s controversial television advertising campaign, which drew a sharp reaction from the ruling ANC. FNB reportedly apologised to the ANC for the campaign at a meeting on Friday.
On Friday evening, Jordaan tweeted: “I am not resigning as CEO [of] the most innovative bank in the world”.
FNB has declined to comment on the speculation, saying any changes in senior management and succession planning would be managed through FNB parent FirstRand and done according to its governance processes.
With Jordaan at the helm, FNB recently won the BAI-Finacle Global Banking Award for most innovative bank worldwide. The bank also won all of the major awards at MTN’s App of the Year event in 2012 for its mobile banking application.
FNB was the first bank to launch a mobile banking app for South African consumers. Jordaan was also instrumental in the launch of the bank’s eBucks rewards programme in the late 1990s. FNB was also the first South African bank to offer access to PayPal.
The bank has continued to launch various innovative products, including its GeoPay service, which allows consumers to make proximity-based payments to one another and doesn’t require that both parties be customers of the bank. Non-customers can withdraw the funds from FNB ATMs.
Jordaan, a devoted Twitter user and technophile, owns and manages a wine farm with his wife.
In 2011, Jordaan made TechCentral’s top five list of the newsmakers of the year for his social media presence, the smartphone app and the bank’s discounted phones and tablets and free fixed-line and 3G broadband offers. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media