Capitec CEO and co-founder Gerrie Fourie will step down from his role in July 2025.
Gerrie will retire at the group’s annual general meeting on 18 July, and will be succeeded by Capitec group executive Graham Lee on 19 July.
Gerrie assumed the role of CEO in 2014, and has been a part of the retail bank’s executive management team for the past 25 years.
“It has been a privilege to be a part of the Capitec journey since day one, and to lead the company through such extraordinary times over the past 11 and a half years. My passion has always been to build a business that innovates with the purpose of serving the needs of South Africans, and to help our country grow,” he says.
“I believe that we have achieved that. I remain committed to Capitec and am incredibly proud of our achievements to date.”
During his tenure, the bank grew from five million largely low-income customers to a retail giant of 24 million customers. Gerrie is the last of the bank’s founders to exit management.
He began his career at Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery in 1987 in the financial planning department and was later appointed as the area general manager of KwaZulu-Natal and later Gauteng. In 2000, he joined Capitec Bank as chief operating officer, contributing significantly to its rapid expansion.
Graham has been a member of the group executive team since 2022, and joined Capitec in 2003. He has held several leadership roles at Capitec in various divisions, including finance, IT, credit, digital and data and currently serves as executive: personal bank. He has over 25 years of experience in financial and technology institutions in countries including Zimbabwe, the UK, Australia, Nigeria, in addition to South Africa.
He started his career in investment banking in Zimbabwe in 1997 before continuing in London with Morgan Stanley International. His career includes writing financial software and data analytics in Australia and leading a micro-finance bank in Nigeria. He also lectured part-time for the MBA programme of the University of Stellenbosch Business School.
Graham holds BBusSci (Hons) and MBA degrees and is a chartered management accountant.
