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‘My blood has been green for a long time,” says Ciko Thomas, the new head of Nedbank’s retail and business banking division.
The appointment of Thomas, who has been with Nedbank since 2010, was the big news coming out of the bank’s annual results announcement last week.
The division he will lead employs 18 500 of Nedbank’s 30 000 staff. In the last financial year it generated R4.5 billion, or nearly 42%, of Nedbank’s total headline profit of R10.8 billion.
His elevation immediately catapults Thomas into the major league of South Africa’s top bankers at a time when the country’s financial services sector has been coming under severe criticism for backsliding on transformation. Key appointments in the recent past have gone to white males.
Thomas, who takes over on April 1, said the appointment was “part of my trajectory of personal development”.
“It’s a big role in the business and not a small move,” he said during a telephonic interview in which he steered clear of saying anything too spontaneous.
Thomas joined Nedbank in 2010 as its group executive of marketing, communications and corporate affairs before becoming Nedbank’s managing executive of consumer banking in 2011.
The consumer banking unit employs 10 000 people.
Thomas’ promotion, which is still subject to SA Reserve Bank approval, follows the decision by the outgoing incumbent, Philip Wessels, who has been at Nedbank for more than 20 years, to take early retirement.
Thomas said his appointment came amid an “incredible amount of volatility and uncertainty”, as well as a number of regulatory changes.
At the same time, he said, consumers were tightening their belts due to the difficult economic climate.
It was vital for his new unit to respond to the changing times, but at the same time it had to be innovative, said Thomas.
“Banking innovation can make a difference. Technology plays a big role in banking. The banking sector is also very competitive,” he said.
As for his long-term career ambitions, Thomas said that in his new role at Nedbank he had enough work to keep him busy and energised, and he would continue to grow the retail and business banking unit.
“I’m not looking beyond this challenge right now,” he said.
The University of Cape Town bachelor of science graduate also holds a master’s in business administration, which he completed at the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in Holland in 2001.
Thomas lists Dutch as one of the languages he can “pull out at the bar”.
Last year, Thomas enrolled in Harvard University’s advanced management programme.
His marketing career highlights include stints at big-name brands Unilever, M-Net, British American Tobacco, SAB, Absa and Barloworld Motor Retail.
He also has an entrepreneurial streak, having co-owned a BMW dealership and participated in several other business ventures.
