Absa CEO Ramos to Retire After Steering Barclays Split
- Board took succession planning ‘off the table’ to keep focus
- Chairwoman: Ramos laid foundation to make job more appealing
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Absa Group Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Maria Ramos will step down after overseeing the split from Barclays Plc, an alliance blamed for the loss of retail market share at South Africa’s third-largest bank.
The stock rallied the most among its Johannesburg-based peers on Tuesday in the wake of her pending exit. Absa, once the nation’s largest mortgage lender, fell behind after Britain’s Barclays acquired control in 2005. Now that the U.K. bank has sold down its stake, Absa is planning to grow faster than rivals to close the gap.