US - Africa Leaders Summit,
Washington, 2022

Arrie Rautenbach is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Absa Group. He was previously the Chief Executive of Absa Group’s retail and business banking (RBB) unit and Absa Financial Services Ltd, and has been a Group Exco member for six years. With more than 25 years’ banking experience, Arrie previously served as the Group’s Chief Risk Officer, simultaneously providing executive leadership for the Group Separation Programme and Group Strategy Office. His earlier roles within the Absa Group included a number of executive leadership positions, encompassing Chief Executive of Retail Banking, Managing Executive of Absa Card Division and Managing Executive of Distribution.

Arrie’s experience transcends South Africa and he previously served on the Barclaycard and Retail and Business Banking and Risk executive committees (as part of Barclays Plc). Under Arrie’s stewardship, Absa was awarded “Best Retail Bank in Africa in 2020” by The Asian Banker, and was previously the recipient of awards in the categories of “Best Retail Bank in Africa”, “Best Retail Bank in South Africa” and “Best Credit Card Management” (by The Asian Banker). He was previously named “Retail Banker of the Year” by the International Banker magazine. An accomplished banker, Arrie has contributed to the industry through his board executive membership of the Banking Association of South Africa (BASA), board memberships of Woolworths Financial Services and other related industry bodies, locally and internationally, in addition to serving as the current Chairperson of Ford Financial Services. Arrie holds a Bachelors in Business Administration (cum laude) and Masters in Business Administration from the University of North-West: Potchefstroom. He has also participated in an Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD. Within Absa, he completed the Absa Development Initiative (ADI) programme