MTN Group has tapped competitors and the banking sector’s talent pool to strengthen its executive team and improve on risk management and governance.

Rob Shuter was on Monday named group CEO, effective July 2017, to replace Sifiso Dabengwa, who resigned in November 2015 after Nigerian authorities slapped the company with a huge fine for regulatory breaches.

Chairman Phuthuma Nhleko, who assumed an executive role to resolve the standoff with the Nigerian authorities will step back once Shuter joins the company.

But before Shuter’s arrival, MTN chief financial officer Brett Goschen and a yet to be named new vice president for mergers and acquisitions and strategy will take on additional responsibilities under Nhleko’s guidance. Nhleko would step down as chairman in two-and-a-half years, MTN said without giving an exact date.

Nhleko said MTN had "weathered a rather difficult storm" and would continue to review its governance and management operating structure to ensure that it "operates at an optimum level and continues to replenish management talent to ensure a sustained growth of the business".

Shuter’s appointment follows MTN’s settlement with the Nigerian Communications Authority under which it will pay $1.7bn over three years and list its unit on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The initial fine was $5.2bn.

The penalty forced MTN to overhaul its top team and operational structure across its 22 operations in the rest of Africa and the Middle East.

Shuter spent about seven years at Vodacom and Vodafone as chief financial officer and head of the European cluster respectively. He also held senior roles at Nedbank and Standard Bank.

JM Busha’s Farai Mapfinya said that as an external appointment Shuter "comes with fresh eye on the operations and will not have any personal legacy issues".

MTN also made several executive and nonexecutive appointments at group and SA level.

Godfrey Motsa, a former Vodacom executive will become vice president for South and East Africa. New nonexecutive directors include Paul Hanratty of Old Mutual and Nkululeko Sowazi of Kagiso Tiso Holdings.

MyWealth Investments CEO Devin Shutte said the appointments showed a clear intention of strengthening governance and credibility. "What I think we are seeing is the move to create a more resilient governance structure by bringing in individuals who have operated in highly regulated environments," he said.

He said Shuter’s banking background would bring with him a culture of compliance and accountability that has "arguably been lacking of late" at MTN.

Shuter’s not being a "company man" made his appointment more compelling, said Shutte.

Ian Brink, an analyst at Arqaam Capital told Bloomberg that investors had always been comfortable working with Shuter and that his experience with Vodafone in Europe added to his management skills. (BDlive.com)

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