New boss for South Africa’s First National Bank

Michael Jordaan, CEO of First National Bank, South Africa’s and Africa’s second largest bank by value, announced Wednesday that he will retire from banking.

The 45-year-old will step down at the end of the year, and will be replaced by Jacques Celliers, current CEO of FNB business banking division.

Jordaan will be remembered for introducing Steve, a fictional character an FNB radio advertising campaign, whom became hugely popular with the South African public, as well as a series of politically charged television ads that drew the ire of the South African government.

He was also was responsible for driving a technological overhaul at FNB to raise the bank’s level of innovation. Last year, FNB was named the most innovative bank in the world at the BAI - Finacle Global Banking Innovation Awards, beating 150 entries from 30 countries.

FNB is owned by FirstRand, one of South Africa’s largest financial institutions. Jordaan joined the group in 1994. He said in his recruitment interview, when asked to name his weaknesses, that “on occasion, I have been known to three-putt” - when a golfer needs three putts on the green to sink the ball.

Jordaan plans to relocate to his family wine farm in the Cape region of South Africa from the FNB head office in Johannesburg, and focus on becoming an entrepreneur.