He was brought in to head up a bank which had lost significant market share and whose share price was significantly underperforming, along with the other "big four" SA banks on the JSE. The Covid-19 crisis struck just weeks after he took office, and he has been credited with seeing the bank safely through the crisis. When he took office, he was tasked by the board with reviewing the strategy Absa had put in place in 2018 after its divorce from UK-based Barclays, and Lucas Bull had told staff he had an "open mandate".