FirstRand CEO Nxasana had it all - except time

Sizwe Nxasana, 57, could probably pick any job he wanted in South Africa. He has created an outstanding record leading two of the country's largest organisations - FirstRand and Telkom - but right now he is not saying what his plans are when he leaves FirstRand.

Johan Burger, 56, FirstRand's deputy CEO, will be taking over from October.

"Watch this space" is all the famously reticent CEO would say when asked what plans he had for life after FirstRand. When pressed, he said there were "a lot of things I want to do", and referred to his family's business but would not give details other than to say he was interested in starting up new businesses.

Nxasana, a chartered accountant, was one of the founding partners in the first black-owned audit practice in KwaZulu-Natal, SizweNtsalubaGobodo. This is not the "family business" to which he referred.

The announcement of Nxasana's departure shocked the market and probably all of FirstRand's 34000 employees on Friday.

Nxasana joined FirstRand in 2005, and was appointed CEO in 2010 when Paul Harris stepped down.

Nxasana dismissed concerns about the loss of a black CEO at FirstRand.

"Yes, there will be a white person at the top, but we have a pipeline of excellent black talent - 54% of the executives at FNB are black and 40% at WesBank," said Nxasana.

Alan Pullinger, currently CEO of Rand Merchant Bank, will be appointed Burger's deputy.

Adrian Cloete of PSG Wealth said that although the announcement was unexpected there was nothing sinister behind it. "Running a major bank is a 24/7 job. After a while how do you reward CEOs? Time becomes the most valuable commodity for them."

Nxasana, who was due to retire in 2017, intimated that the time issue had been a factor in his decision, which he had been considering for three or four months.

"There is a clock ticking, nobody can do anything about it ... but I don't intend sitting on a rocking chair for the rest of my life. Hopefully, I have decades more to work."

Cloete said Nxasana had done "an amazing job" at FirstRand and was leaving the group while it was well ahead of its peers. "Sizwe has done an excellent job, and Johan Burger is the best person they could have chosen to replace him; they have worked very well together for the past few years."

Burger, who takes up the CEO job in October, was appointed deputy CEO in 2013. Before that, he was group chief operations officer from 2009 and group financial officer from 2002.

Cloete commended the group for the seamless transfer of responsibility. "FirstRand have always done their succession planning well."

Nxasana came to FirstRand from Telkom, where he had been CEO in the critical years leading to and after the parastatal's listing in 2003. But his ties with the founders of FirstRand date back to the late '90s when he was a nonexecutive director of Natal Building Society alongside Paul Harris and GT Ferreira.

After a brief flutter, the share price ended marginally firmer on Friday, ahead of results due out on Tuesday.