Capitec CEO steps down

Capitec has announced that CEO Gerrie Fourie will retire at the bank’s annual general meeting to be held on 18 July 2025.

Fourie has been part of the executive management team for the past 25 years. Under his stewardship as CEO, Capitec transformed from a challenger bank serving 5 million clients to one of the “Big 5” serving over 24 million clients.

Fourie is a founding member of Capitec and served as its head of operations when the bank launched in 2001.

He started his career in the financial department at Stellenbosch Farmers’ Winery in 1987, before being appointed as the area general manager of KwaZulu-Natal and, later, Gauteng.

Fourie has been Capitec’s Group CEO since 2014 after co-founder Riaan Stassen departed the company in 2013.

In addition to leading the bank, Fourier served on the Mastercard Middle East and Africa advisory board and the board of Avafin.

Under Fourie’s leadership, Capitec’s executive structure was expanded to establish divisional executive teams responsible for the retail bank, business bank, insurance company and strategic initiatives.

This created a strong senior leadership team enriched with expertise, experience, and deep institutional knowledge as a pool to draw a successor from, the bank said.

Capitec chairman Santie Botha commended Fourie for his exceptional leadership and strategic vision.

The Capitec board thanked Fourie on behalf of all stakeholders for his unwavering dedication and the transformative impact that he has had on Capitec.

Capitec’s board also announced that Graham Lee will succeed Fourie on 19 July 2025. Lee is 50 years old and has been a member of the group executive team since 2022.

Lee joined Capitec in 2003 and has held numerous strategic positions in credit, technology and data, retail operations, and most recently, as Group Executive of the Retail Bank division.

Fourie and Lee will continue to work closely together over the next four months to ensure a smooth transition.

Lee will join the Capitec and Capitec Bank Boards effective 19 July 2025.

Graham Lee — new Capitec CEO

Lee holds BBusSci (Hons) and MBA degrees and is a Chartered Management Accountant. He has over 25 years of working experience in various financial and technology businesses in 5 different countries: Zimbabwe, United Kingdom, Australia and Nigeria, in addition to South Africa.

Lee began his career in investment banking in Zimbabwe in 1997 before continuing in London with Morgan Stanley International.

His career outside of Capitec includes financial software development 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.