From growing up in the Cape Flats to running Standard Bank’s R1.1 trillion crown jewel

Luvuyo Masinda is one of the most influential bankers in Africa, running Standard Bank’s prestigious Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) division, which generates more than half of the company’s headline earnings. 

Sitting on over R1.1 trillion in deposits, lending out hundreds of billions of rands a year, and moving R4.9 trillion on an average day, Masinda from Mandalay on the Cape Flats runs a division that banks governments, central banks, and corporates across Africa. 

Mandalay is a small township in-between Mitchell’s Plain, Khayelitsha, and Cape Town International Airport. Thanks to Masinda, it now sports its own cricket club. 

A young Masinda likely never considered that he would be sitting in Standard Bank’s Rosebank offices or travelling the continent at the head of an army of blue-suited investment bankers. 

Masinda’s rise within Standard Bank is relatively well-known. However, the banker has deliberately kept a low profile online. 

This has changed somewhat in recent years as he rose to become CIB CEO in 2024 and is now considered one of the main contenders for Standard Bank Group CEO after banking titan Sim Tshabalala retires at the end of 2027. 

Masinda has spent the last two years at the head of the bank’s crown jewel, which attendees of the African Markets Conference 2026 were reminded of. 

The CIB division has immense scale, which Masinda alluded to in the bank’s role in funding Africa’s development. 

“Our scale is material. We maintain an on-the-ground presence in 21 African markets, linked to major global financial centres,” Masinda told attendees. 

“We hold approximately R1.1 trillion in deposits and more than R650 billion in advances. We serve over 3,000 clients and process an average of R4.9 trillion in payments daily.”

Masinda’s division is on track for a record 2025 financial year, with it set to post over R24 billion in headline earnings and record investment banking origination. 

Over the past year, the division has also opened an office in Egypt to better serve its clients, which include the nation’s central bank. 

Masinda did not shy away from the responsibility this scale brings, saying that the CIB division operates at the intersection of policy formulation, capital allocation, and execution. 

“Scale alone is insufficient. The strategic imperative is to deepen market liquidity, broaden investor participation, and strengthen the structural underpinnings of capital markets across the continent,” Masinda said. 

Such a speech would feel surreal to the young Masinda from Mandalay, who was obsessed with cricket, mathematics, and cars. 

From Mandalay to investment banking

Very little about Masinda’s upbringing and path towards Standard Bank is freely available, with the banker preferring to keep a low profile. 

Upon questions, Standard Bank’s CIB media team pointed towards an interview Masinda had when he was CFO of the CIB division in 2016. 

Speaking to CFO South Africa, Masinda revealed that many people from Mandalay repeatedly ask him how he managed to get where he is today. 

“I am definitely not smarter than others. I have always focused on my roles. I do them the best I can. I don’t look too far ahead, and the right roles keep finding me,” Masinda said.

Masinda was raised by a single mother in Mandalay and spent much of his childhood outdoors, playing sports with his siblings and friends. 

“I was fascinated by sport, and I was not too bad. I played soccer and especially cricket, just like my brother, Ronald,” Masinda said. Ronald is now a sports reporter for eNCA. 

While obsessed with cricket, Luvuyo wanted to follow in the footsteps of Kaizer Chiefs legends Doctor Khumalo and Teenage Dladla. 

However, the gentlemen’s game, with its strict tradition and strange rules, would give Masinda the chance to see South Africa beyond Mandalay. As a tall, fast bowler, Masinda was perfectly suited for South African cricket. 

“It did a couple of things for me. I was not always such a confident young child, and cricket gave me that self-belief. It also kept me out of trouble and opened up the world for me,” Masinda said. 

“Thanks to the provincial tours, I went on an aeroplane to Johannesburg for the first time. I experienced a hotel for the first time and swam in a pool for the first time.”

“Living a privileged life in Saxonwold, these are all things my kids take for granted now.” 

Masinda came to terms with the fact that he would not make it as a professional cricketer, and in his matric year, he began thinking about becoming a chartered accountant. 

Drawn to the lifestyle and “shiny cars” of accountants, Masinda decided he would work hard to become one. 

At Cape Technikon, Masinda earned a three-year national diploma in cost and management accounting and worked at local firm KMMT Brey. 

After a series of acquisitions, Masinda found himself working at EY, where he completed his articles and converted his diploma into a degree through the National School of Accounting (NSOA). 

However, Masinda did not stay at EY for long, leaving the firm for a job at JP Morgan in Johannesburg, where he worked for two years. 

After attending an event where someone from Standard Bank spoke about its focus on Africa, Masinda was hooked and joined the Big Blue as head of group consolidations in 2007. 

This would mark the beginning of a remarkable rise at the bank. 

“I just believe in what the bank is trying to do, and as a professional, father and husband, you have to do what you believe in. The bank is now an extension of my life,” Masinda said. 

Rising to the top?

Masinda has excelled within the bank, rising through the ranks at its CIB division and even being tipped as Tshabalala’s successor. 

Rising to become the CIB division’s CFO in 2014, Masinda quickly became a stalwart within the investment banking team and was on his way to becoming one of the bank’s executives. 

Only 37 at the time, Masinda was already making rapid progress in his career at the bank. This did not stop at the CFO level, as he picked up the responsibilities of head of client coverage in 2017.

This exposure to the bank’s CIB clients began preparing Masinda for further growth, engaging with governments, central banks, and multinational corporations.

At this time, the bank’s CIB division was led by Kenny Fihla, who is now Absa CEO. Fihla had immense success at Standard Bank. 

Masinda has big shoes to fill, with his predecessor doubling the CIB’s headline earnings to R20.5 billion from 2017 to 2024.

Fihla was also tipped to become the next Group CEO, having taken on the role of Standard Bank South Africa CEO and Group Deputy CEO. However, Absa would poach Fihla, who is looking to revive the fortunes of the Red Bank after a decade of leadership instability. 

In 2021, Masinda took up the role of chief risk officer for the CIB division until September 2023, when he was appointed deputy CEO of the unit. A year later, he was CEO.

Since taking on the job of CEO at the CIB division in September 2024, Masinda has continued its strong growth, with the division posting half-year headline earnings of R12 billion – an annual run rate of R24 billion. 

This makes up more than half of Standard Bank’s interim headline earnings of R23.8 billion, with the next largest business unit contributing R4.8 billion. 

Crucially, the division also has an impressive return on equity of 22.9%, which is above Standard Bank’s medium-term target range of 18% to 22%.

With Tshabalala set to retire at the end of 2027, Masinda is well-positioned to be Standard Bank’s next Group CEO. 

Tshabalala has been clear that the next CEO is likely to come from within the bank, telling Daily Investor that it “grows its own timber”. 

“I must mention this. Standard Bank is a great institution. We keep telling people to go and read the statement issued by our chair. It makes clear reference to our deep bench strength,” Tshabalala said. 

“We grow our own timber at Standard Bank. It goes to the very DNA of the bank to look at things over the long term, including leadership succession.”

“In the history of the bank, there has only been one chief executive, only one who has come from the outside, and it was the first one, Robert Stewart.”

Masinda, leading the bank’s crown jewel, engaging with clients, the media, and being well-known to the market, currently looks the most likely candidate for the top job. 

Ushered into a room on the sidelines of the African Markets Conference, journalists were given some time to engage with Masinda.

While vastly different in stature from Tshabalala, Masinda carries the same air of quiet confidence and respect, rising to shake the hand of each journalist in the room and introduce himself. 

Considering the high-profile guests at the conference and Masinda’s tight schedule, it was hard not to think that he was slowly getting exposed to the type of media attention that might come if he were appointed Group CEO.