Nedbank has confirmed that group chief operating officer Mfundo Nkuhlu will take early retirement at the end of 2026, and that the COO role will be discontinued once he departs. The decision folds a senior executive position into the bank’s existing leadership structure, signalling a leaner top team at a moment when the lender is reshaping itself around growth and efficiency.
Nkuhlu, 60, joined Nedbank in April 2004 as managing executive of Nedbank Africa, later moving through the group’s corporate banking and corporate divisions before his appointment as COO and executive director of both Nedbank Group and Nedbank in January 2015. Over more than 22 years with the group, the bank said, he contributed significantly to its strategy, operations and growth, and as COO helped strengthen operational capabilities, drive strategic execution and steer the group through sustained change and transformation.
His tenure spanned a demanding period for the bank, including a major technology overhaul and, more recently, its pivot toward East Africa. That repositioning has featured the disposal of its Ecobank stake and the acquisition of a controlling interest in Kenya’s NCBA Group, a deal Moody’s flagged as credit-positive. Operational execution of this scale typically sits within the COO’s remit, which makes the timing of both the retirement and the role’s removal notable.
Beyond Nedbank, Nkuhlu has held influence across the wider sector, serving as chairperson of the Financial Sector Transformation Council and sitting on the board executive committee of the Banking Association of South Africa. Before his banking career he held senior posts at the South African Revenue Service and the then department of trade and industry, giving him a public-sector grounding uncommon among commercial bank executives.
| Mfundo Nkuhlu | Detail |
|---|---|
| Age | 60 |
| Joined Nedbank | April 2004 |
| Appointed COO | January 2015 |
| Total tenure | 22+ years |
| Retirement | End-December 2026 |
| COO role | To be discontinued |
From January 2027, the responsibilities attached to the COO position will be redistributed among members of the current group executive committee rather than passed to a single successor. The move mirrors a broader trend among large banks toward flatter executive structures, in which operational, technology and transformation duties are embedded across business heads instead of concentrated in one office. For Nedbank, absorbing the role also removes a layer of cost at a time when management is emphasising productivity gains as a lever for improving returns.
The announcement lands days before the group’s interim results and against a backdrop management has described as broadly on track. Nedbank recently reaffirmed that its 2026 full-year guidance remained intact despite a mixed operating environment, noting that headline earnings for the first five months of the year were in line with the expectations it set at the start of 2026, with any update to follow at the interim stage.
The leadership change forms part of a wider reshaping of Nedbank’s senior ranks. The group has been executing a strategy centred on becoming more client-focused, diversifying earnings and lifting efficiency, and the removal of the COO layer is consistent with that agenda. It also adds to a period of transition at the top of South African banking, where several major lenders have refreshed executive teams while contending with modest domestic growth and the search for faster returns beyond the country’s borders.
Nkuhlu’s exit closes a lengthy chapter for one of the sector’s more prominent black executives, whose career bridged public administration and private banking. For Nedbank, the challenge now is to preserve the operational continuity he oversaw while distributing his former responsibilities across a leadership team already tasked with delivering the group’s growth and return ambitions through 2028.