Image of René van Wyk, Independent Non-Executive Director at Absa Group.
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board and management Independent directors

board and management Independent directors

René was appointed as the Chairman of Absa Group and Absa Bank effective 15 July 2025.

René originally joined the Absa Group Board as an independent non-executive director on 1 February 2017. He served as the Group Chief Executive from 1 March 2019 to 14 January 2020, re-joined the board as a non-executive director from 1 August 2020 and became an independent non-executive director from 1 August 2021. He was appointed as an independent non-executive director of Absa Bank Limited on 1 February 2022.

He is the Chairman of the Directors’ Affairs Committee (DAC), and a member of the Group Risk and Capital Management Committee (GRCMC), Group Credit Risk Committee (GCRC) and Remuneration Committee (RemCo).

René is the former registrar of Banks and head of banking supervision of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and retired from that position in May 2016.
Prior to that, René was with the Nedbank Group of companies from 1993 to 2011, where he occupied various positions, notably executive director responsible for risk at Nedcor Investment Bank, and CEO of Imperial Bank (a subsidiary of Nedbank).
In his earlier years with KPMG he served as a partner in the financial services group.

René is a non-executive director of Motus Holdings Limited.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Accounting Science (Hons), Advanced Management Programme (Insead), and is a Chartered Accountant, CA (SA).

René was appointed as the Chairman of Absa Group and Absa Bank effective 15 July 2025.

René originally joined the Absa Group Board as an independent non-executive director on 1 February 2017. He served as the Group Chief Executive from 1 March 2019 to 14 January 2020, re-joined the board as a non-executive director from 1 August 2020 and became an independent non-executive director from 1 August 2021. He was appointed as an independent non-executive director of Absa Bank Limited on 1 February 2022.

He is the Chairman of the Directors’ Affairs Committee (DAC), and a member of the Group Risk and Capital Management Committee (GRCMC), Group Credit Risk Committee (GCRC) and Remuneration Committee (RemCo).

René is the former registrar of Banks and head of banking supervision of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and retired from that position in May 2016.
Prior to that, René was with the Nedbank Group of companies from 1993 to 2011, where he occupied various positions, notably executive director responsible for risk at Nedcor Investment Bank, and CEO of Imperial Bank (a subsidiary of Nedbank).
In his earlier years with KPMG he served as a partner in the financial services group.

René is a non-executive director of Motus Holdings Limited.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Accounting Science (Hons), Advanced Management Programme (Insead), and is a Chartered Accountant, CA (SA).