Digital-only bank Discovery Bank has appointed Hylton Kallner as its new CEO, effective from 1 January 2021, following approval received from the Prudential Authority.
Announcing the changes today, Discovery says Kallner replaces Barry Hore at a time the bank has completed its build and migration phase, during which several milestones were achieved.
The bank, owned by SA’s largest health insurer, was first announced in November 2018 andlaunched in March 2019, when it touted the new offering as the “world’s first behavioural bank” and a fully digital bank that can be joined by anyone with a smartphone.
Discovery Bank is one of the digital banks that are believed will shake-up the South African retail banking sector because they are not stuck with legacy technologies and have cheaper fees. The other players are TymeBank and Bank Zero.
In a statement, Discovery Bank says the milestones reached under the stewardship of Hore include the build of the bank‘s digital banking capability based on the shared-value model, the creation of competitive banking products and the successful migration of all Discovery Card accounts from FirstRand Bank to Discovery Bank.
“In taking over from Barry, Hylton will leverage his experience as CEO of the SA businesses of Discovery in building a powerful and integrated composite. His understanding of Discovery’s shared-value business model, along with his extensive experience at Discovery group spanning nearly 25 years, position him well to drive continued growth and success for Discovery Bank,” says Adrian Gore, Discovery Group chief executive.
“His experience in the conceptualisation and operation of the original Discovery Card and more recently overseeing the provision of core group services to Discovery Bank, add to the competencies gained in his decade as the group’s chief marketing officer.
“Hylton will step down from various subsidiary boards but will retain his role as chair of the Discovery South Africa exco as the key co-ordination structure across the SA composite. This will enable him to leverage assets across the group as the bank focuses on driving strong, high-quality customer growth and value.”
Reflecting on his time as CEO of Discovery Bank, Hore says: “I feel privileged to have had this opportunity to join the Discovery team in creating and building Discovery Bank. I would like to thank the incredible team that has supported me in this journey and feel confident that I am able to leave at this point, having built the strong foundations of a uniquely disruptive banking capability. I am truly proud of what has been achieved in such a short space of time.”
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