Absa and FirstRand executive directors and prescribed officers take salary cuts to help Covid-19 fight.
Two of South Africa’s biggest banks, Absa and FirstRand, have announced that their executive directors and prescribed officers have decided to forego more than 30 percent of their salaries for three months. The money saved will be donated to public efforts to combat the Covid-19 virus.
Absa executives giving up 33 percent of their salaries for this period include group CEO Daniel Mminele, deputy group CEO Peter Matlare, FD Jason Quinn, CEO of retail and business banking in South Africa Arrie Rautenbach, and CEO of corporate and investment banking Charles Russon.
The money that these executives will forego will be donated to both the Solidarity Fund as well as the Absa’s Covid-19 community support programmes. Colleagues at all levels of the organisation have also been encouraged to consider making donations in line with their own personal circumstances.
Daniel said:
"Having made an initial contribution of R10 million to the Solidarity Fund, and to other programmes across several countries in which we operate, and delivered comprehensive customer relief programmes, the Absa Group is also in the process of expanding our efforts to make further contributions in all the markets in which we have a presence. The scale of the challenge requires that we work together to find solutions that can help us fight this massive threat to public health and our economic prospects.”
FirstRand’s FNB, RMB and WesBank executives made a similar pledge to forego 30 percent of their salaries, including FirtRand CEO Alan Pullinger, CFO Hetash Kellan, COO Mary Vilakazi, FNB CEO Jacques Celliers, RMB CEO James Formby, and WesBank CEO Chris de Kock.
The proceeds will be directed to FirstRand’s SPIRE fund, which is focused on accelerating South Africa’s Covid-19 critical care capacity.
