War for talent | Sola Adegbesan leaves Standard Bank for Absa

Absa’s raid on Standard Bank’s top talent is showing no sign of letting up as it sharpens its Pan-Africa ambitions, with respected investment banker Sola Adegbesan the latest executive to buy into the Kenny Fihla-led revolution.

Armed with 24 years’ experience at Standard Bank, Adegbesan will from next month swop the blue of Standard Bank for the red of Absa. With Adegbesan’s arrival Absa will have poached top talent with a combined 116 years of banking experience from Big Blue in the past year.

Absa spokesperson Daniel Munslow confirmed that Adegbesan has joined the ranks of the resurgent lender, taking up a top position in the group’s corporate and investment banking (CIB) business.

“Sola Adegbesan has been appointed managing executive: CIB Africa Regions, effective July 1 2026. He will report to Zaid Moola, chief executive of Absa Corporate and Investment Banking,” Munslow said.

“The role will drive the growth and execution of the Absa CIB strategy across regions, overseeing operations, regulatory engagement and expansion across key and new African markets. Sola will be based in Johannesburg.”

Adegbesan and Moola are no strangers, having worked together at Standard Bank’s global markets team, an important cog in the group’s dominant CIB business.

The towering Adegbesan held the role of head of global markets clients, responsible for the Africa region for Standard Bank. The role gave him direct oversight of the client teams in all 19 African countries as well as Standard Bank’s London and New York offices.

Standard Bank, normally known for holding on to its top talent, has had a whirlwind of a year since the resignation of Fihla to join Absa as group CEO.

The Absa project, led by Fihla, has proven irresistible for long-time Standard Bank executives — many of whom have spent more than a decade at Africa’s largest bank by assets.

Moola, who headed the global markets business at Standard, quickly followed Fihla to Absa, taking over the role of CEO of the CIB unit.

Musa Motloung also joined Absa as group strategic risk officer, ditching his role as chief risk officer in Standard Bank’s CIB business.

Avikaar Ramphal also joined Absa as its head of strategic risk from Standard Bank, where he had been portfolio head, strategy enablement, in the CIB business.

Clive Potter, erstwhile head of client coverage in South Africa for Standard Bank CIB, has also joined Absa as the managing executive for client coverage in its CIB business.

Absa has also prised away the head of legal at Standard Bank’s CIB franchise, Francisco Khoza, as its deputy general group counsel.

Absa has not only raided Standard Bank for talent, though; Saloshni Pillay and Giles Douglas have crossed the floor from Deutsche Bank and Rothschild and Co, respectively.

Absa has set a target of doubling the revenue of the CIB business, with the rest of the Africa portfolio set to do the heavy lifting.

Absa’s CIB revenue for the 2025 financial year came in at R37bn, implying a growth target of R74bn.

The unit reported a profit of R13bn in the period.

Last week Absa also appointed former Standard Bank senior staffer Leon Barnard to lead its Pan-African business banking unit.

Barnard left Standard Bank two years ago.

To get the group’s personal and private banking performing optimally, Fihla appointed M-Pesa boss Sitoyo Lopokoiyit to head the business. The Kenyan-born executive assumed the role in April.