Absa half year profit jumps 14% under new CEO Kenny Fihla

Stephen Grootes speaks to Absa Group CEO Kenny Fihla after the bank reported a 14% rise in first-half profit, driven by cost-cutting and an organisational restructure.

Listen to the interview in the audio player below.

Absa Group Limited reported a strong set of interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2025, increasing its headline earnings by 17%.

The bank's total income grew 5.2% to R56.5 billion, during the first reporting period under its new CEO Kenny Fihla.

This included an increase in lending to customers by 8%, with total loans reaching R1.46 trillion.

At the same time, customer deposits grew by 13% to R1.58 trillion.

Fihla took over in June 2025, succeeding interim Group CEO Charles Russon.

Thanks to its solid performance, the bank declared an interim dividend of 785 cents per share, payable on 15 September 2025. This is higher than last year’s dividend of 685 cents.

Speaking to Stephen Grootes on The Money Show, Absa Group CEO Kenny Fihla highlighted some of the positive and negatives that have stood out over the past six months.

"It's quite encouraging to see that the momentum that was built by the business a year ago is starting to show positive results."

- Kenny Fihla, CEO - Absa Bank

We are starting to see some positive, lead indicators moving up, but it is too early to say business is starting to move up and start operating at the level at which we'd want it to operate."

- Kenny Fihla, CEO - Absa Bank

"There will always be areas in the business that are still growing, even when the economy is a bit sluggish. We need the agility within our business to accelerate our level of business activity."

- Kenny Fihla, CEO - Absa Bank

Scroll to the top of the article to listen to the full interview.