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The Kenyan subsidiary of Absa, the tier-1 South African bank, has hired Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, the Managing Director of M-PESA Africa, as its new Chief Executive for Personal and Private Banking. He officially exits M-PESA at the end of March and walks into Absa in April.
Since taking over in 2021, Lopokoiyit has led M-Pesa’s pivot from a money-transfer tool into a super app, layering savings, credit, remittances, and stock trading to reach 37 million monthly users.
He previously helped launch Safaricom’s Fuliza, the world’s first mobile money overdraft, and expanded M-Shwari into micro-savings and credit.
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Before entering the mobile money sector, he built a distribution and consumer strategy at Uchumi Supermarkets, Chevron (Caltex), and Total Kenya.
Why is Absa poaching so much? In January, Absa’s South African arm poached two executives from its competitor, Standard Bank, months after poaching other former Standard Bank executives.
This looks strategic. Absa appears to be stacking its leadership bench with executives who understand digital scale in the banking ecosystem and mass-market financial products.
When a bank poaches like this, it’s usually building something bigger than it’s letting on.
With Sitoyo now at Absa, we can expect deeper digital retail plays, possibly tighter integration between banking and everyday financial services.
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