One of the country’s leading commercial bank, Standard Chartered Bank Botswana (SCBB) has started the process of recruiting its substantive chief executive officer (CEO) following the resignation of Moatlhodi Lekaukau on Wednesday.
Lekaukau will leave the bank on March 31, 2016. The bank’s board chairperson Bojosi Otlhogile told reporters on Wednesday that the bank would open up opportunity for some of its top executive members showing interest in taking up the post.
“The process, however, is not as easy; it involves other parties such as the central bank who do the actual vetting of the candidate”, Otlhogile said.
Currently SCBB leadership consists of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Mpho Masupe, Head of Commercial Clients Kesego Mokgetse and Head of Retail Clients Pedzani Tafa. Peggy Tsiane serves as Head of Transaction Banking, Botho Leburu as Head of Financial Markets and Richard Ochieng as Country Chief Risk officer.
The SCBB Chief Information Officer is John Kimani, while the Head of International Cooperates is Benson Madisa. Ali Dhanji is SCBB’s Head of Wealth Management; Mmama Mhlanga-Fichani is Head of Human Resources while Tuduetso Ntwaetsile is Head of Audit. Esther Mokgatlhe has been appointed Company Secretary and Head of Legal and Compliance while Tumie Ramsden serves as Head of Corporate Affairs.
The Bank of Botswana (BoB) this week confirmed the resignation of Lekaukau, adding that the central bank was made aware of the resignation of the Lekaukau.
“The appointment, including contractual obligations and conditions of service of all staff of commercial banks is the responsibility of the boards and management of the banks and not the central bank,” said BoB Head of Communications, Andrew Sesinyi.
Otlhogile is of the view that Lekaukau has successfully guided the company through the difficult business environment of recent years, maintaining a strong balance sheet and ensuring a balance between investment and returns to shareholders.
Otlhogile further stated that amongst his most notable achievements was seeing the bank realise over P1 billion in operating income for the first time in its history, the localisation of the executive committee in Botswana, the establishment of the Standard Chartered Education Trust, and the US$100-million secured invoice financing facility agreement with Okavango Diamond Company.
Meanwhile, a look into SCBB traded share price at the Botswana Stock Exchange indicates that at the beginning of January 2016, the bank’s stock price was at 1120 Thebe, closing the year at 775 Thebe. It further dropped to 760 Thebe at the beginning of 2017 and has stayed there this week.
