Absa Group has appointed Eric Muriuki as Managing Executive for Pan‑African Growth Strategy, Platforms and Digital Ventures, a role that will oversee the bank’s continent‑wide digital platform agenda.

Muriaki comes from a long tenure at Commercial Bank of Africa and its successor NCBA, where he served as Group Director of Digital Business and CEO of the LOOP DFS platform.

He began his banking career at CBA in July 2007, giving him close to two decades of experience in Kenyan digital finance before moving to the new role at Absa.

The appointment follows a series of senior‑leadership changes at Absa in 2026, including Zaid Moola as head of Corporate and Investment Banking, Sitoyo Lopokoiyit as chief of Personal and Private Banking, and Leon Barnard as Business Banking CEO for Africa.

Absa’s restructuring aims to align distinct customer franchises – corporate, business, personal and digital – under executives with specialised expertise, positioning the bank to compete for everyday transaction relationships.

Muriuki’s portfolio adds a group‑level focus on platform development and digital ventures, complementing the broader Pan‑African growth agenda outlined by the bank.

Kenya’s market underscores the relevance of the role: more than 90 % of retail transactions at major banks now occur outside physical branches, shifting competition to digital interfaces.

Absa has already launched Absa Next, a cloud‑based digital platform that combines banking, savings, investments, payments and instant loans for both customers and non‑customers, providing a practical reference for Muriuki’s mandate.

The platform runs alongside the traditional banking app and is open to external financial accounts, allowing the bank to acquire new users while deepening services for existing ones.

Muriuki’s experience with LOOP, which evolved from an urban‑focused digital bank into an embedded‑finance platform offering lending, device financing and Buy‑Now‑Pay‑Later services, aligns with Absa’s goal of building reusable digital capabilities across markets.

Absa views Kenya as a proving ground for its Pan‑African digital strategy, given the country’s mature mobile‑money ecosystem and customers’ habit of moving money between bank accounts, wallets and fintech apps.