About us

Our Strategy

We are a forward-looking business, rooted in Africa and fiercely proud of our heritage. Our goal is to be a financial services group that is globally respected and that Africa can be proud of.

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Our Absa Strategy

We are proudly African, and treasure our diversity, which we leverage in the service of others. Our purpose is to bring your possibilities to life. We believe everyone should have access to the transformative power of financial services. To help them plan, dream, and aspire to change their lives. We believe in possibilities, in the actions of people who always find a way to get things done. We believe in creating opportunities for our customers to make their possibilities real and in supporting them every step of the way, delivering innovative technologies and propositions to make more possible.

As a financial services provider, we play an important role in the economic life of individuals, businesses and nations. We help to create, grow and protect wealth through partnerships in economic development, while playing a shaping role in Africa’s growth and sustainability.

Our operating environment has changed in ways we could not have predicted, necessitating reflection on our strategic stance and priorities. Our strategic review process made it clear that a fundamentally new strategy would not be appropriate. Rather, we concluded that the context called for a re-anchoring and refresh of the strategy we launched in 2018.

Considering the changing internal and external environment, we identified the following priorities:

  • A diversified franchise with deliberate, market-leading growth
  • The primary partner for our clients
  • A digitally powered business
  • A winning, talented and diverse team
  • An active force for good in everything we do.

Our strategy aims to generate sustainable growth with returns in line with or better than the market. It accelerates growth, primacy and digitisation without materially altering the Group’s risk appetite. It also further elevates sustainability as a priority.

The Board believes Absa is well-positioned to deliver on its strategy, given our robust financial performance and strong capital and liquidity levels. While pursuing our growth strategy, we will remain mindful of the uncertain economic operating context, the lessons learned during the pandemic and the need to hold capital at the upper end of the Board target ranges. This is evident in our capital planning and dividend policy.