Johannesburg - Capitec Bank Holdings Ltd., South Africa’s second-largest provider of unsecured loans, said Gerrie Fourie will take over as chief executive officer when Riaan Stassen retires at the end of the year.
The Stellenbosch, South Africa-based bank said Fourie, 49, will take over on January 1 from Stassen, who turns 60 this year.
Fourie is responsible for the lender’s sale and operations, Capitec said in a regulatory statement today.
Under Stassen’s leadership, Capitec became South Africa’s sixth-largest bank by market value with more than 8,000 employees, about 600 branches and almost 43 billion rand in assets.
While rival African Bank Investments Ltd. warned of a drop in profit as loans sour amid a slowing South African economy, Capitec has continued to show growth.
Stassen was “the heart of the management team that established Capitec Bank in 2000,” the lender said.
Capitec fell 1.8 percent to 199.15 rand as of 9:43 a.m. in Johannesburg, paring this year’s gain to 8.8 percent.
The six-member FTSE/JSE Africa Banks Index gained 0.1 percent today.
Net income rose to 980.8 million rand ($99.3 million) for the six months through August from 710.8 million rand a year earlier, Capitec said today.
Diluted earnings per share rose 21 percent to 8.38 rand and the dividend climbed 20 percent to 2.03 rand.
Unlike African Bank, Capitec takes in customer deposits and is able to benefit from fees and commissions linked to clients’ transactions.
Capitec now has 5 million active clients, it said.
“Despite South Africa’s medium-term challenges, we remain excited about the future and the opportunities available to us,” the company said.
“Unsecured credit is here to stay.” - Bloomberg News