Barry Hore to step down as Discovery Bank CEO

Barry Hore, the technologist who has led Discovery Bank since its inception, is stepping down.

The former Nedbank CIO and former South African Revenue Service chief operating officer will be replaced as CEO on 1 January 2021 by Hylton Kallner, Discovery said in a statement to shareholders on Thursday.

The appointment comes after Discovery Bank completed its “build and migration” phase, during which the fledgling bank completed “several important milestones”, including the roll-out of digital banking, the new bank’s products and the successful migration of Discovery Card account from FirstRand Bank. It now has 500 000 accounts and R5-billion in retail deposits.

“In taking over from Barry, Hylton will leverage his experience as CEO of the South African businesses of Discovery in building a powerful and integrated composite,” Discovery said.

“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.”

Kallner will step down from various Discovery subsidiary boards but will retain his role as chair of the Discovery South Africa executive committee “as the key co-ordination structure across the South African composite”.

‘Ground up’

“This will enable him to leverage assets across the group as the bank focuses on driving strong, high-quality customer growth and value,” said group CEO Adrian Gore.

“Over the past five years, Barry Hore has led the build of the bank from the ground up, culminating in the public launch and completion of the migration of the Discovery Card portfolio from FirstRand Bank. I would like to thank him for his invaluable contribution,” Gore said.

“His unique combination of deep banking and technology experience has been instrumental in establishing a strong operational capability and cutting-edge digital customer proposition, attracting a high-quality customer base and robust retail deposit franchise.”  — © 2020 NewsCentral Media