Munatsi steps down from ABC Bank

ABC Holdings founding chief executive officer Doug Munatsi and two other executives have stepped down from the financial group following its takeover by an investment company co-owned by former Barclays Plc chief executive officer Bob Diamond and African entrepreneur Ashish Thakkar, pocketing at least $17 million in cash.

Another Zimbabwean, Ronald Pfende will replace Munatsi as the new boss. Pfende joins from Standard Bank Group where he was most recently head of finance and transformation. Munatsi has been in the banking sector for two decades.

He also held a number of other senior roles at the bank, including as CFO of Stanbic IBTC Bank in Nigeria and CFO of Stanbic Bank Uganda. Prior to Standard Bank, he was Financial Controller of BP Tanzania Ltd. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has an MBA from the University of South Africa.

Atlas Mara completed its acquisition of BancABC in August 2014 after minorities agreed to a mandatory offer made by the new investors.

Group chief financial officer Beki Moyo and chief operating officer Francis Dzanya also stood down with group also agreeing for share options for the retiring top three executives.

Munatsi said the coming in of Atlas Mara would improve the bank’s access to international capital and boost its underwriting capacity. In April Atlas Mara announced its plans to inject $100 million within the first 100 days of assuming a controlling stake in BancABC.

“Additionally, Howard Buttery has stepped down from his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors of BancABC and will be leaving the Board at year-end, as will fellow director, Ngoni Kudenga,” the group said in a statement.

“John Vitalo, CEO of Atlas Mara, has been appointed as Interim Chairman, subject to regulatory approval, and Bradford Gibbs, a member of the Atlas Mara Executive Committee, has also joined the Board of BancABC.”

Former Absa Bank executive and uBank executive in charge of business development Makhosi Boyede and Amelia Reynecke, formerly with Barclays as head of operations and technology have been appointed as Co-COOs while Christine Bronkhorst will serve as CFO.

“Mr. Munatsi, Mr. Moyo and Mr. Dzanya received a total of 1 743 888 Atlas Mara shares in consideration for the transfer of their shares in ABC Holdings at the time of the completion of the BancABC acquisition,” the group said.

“In connection with their separation, Atlas Mara has agreed to purchase these shares at a price of $10 per share. The repurchased shares will be held in treasury. In addition, the departing management team has been granted options over a total of 1 521 838 ordinary shares. The options have a strike price of $12 per share and are also subject to certain repurchase obligations. These options were previously agreed with the management team at the time of the initial acquisition of BancABC.”- The Source

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