Simpiwe “Sim” Tshabalala is Chief Executive of the Standard Bank Group.

Sim was born in Hlabisa, in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He grew up in Soweto and was educated at Sacred Heart College in Johannesburg.

Sim attended Rhodes University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1988, and a Bachelor of Laws in 1990. He went on to do a Master of Laws at Notre Dame in the US, which he was awarded summa cum laude, in 1993.

Sim was admitted as an attorney of the High Court of South Africa in 1994. He joined Real Africa Durolink Investment Bank in 1994 and worked in its structured finance division until 2000. In that time he continued his studies on a part-time basis and completed the Higher Diploma in taxation law from the University of the Witwatersrand (‘Wits’) in 1996.

Sim joined the Project Finance Division of Standard Corporate and Merchant Bank as head of structured finance in 2000, becoming a Director in 2000 and Managing Director of Stanbic Africa in 2001. In 2006 he was appointed Chief Executive of Personal and Business Banking, South Africa. In the same year, he completed Harvard University’s Advanced Management Programme.

In March 2008, Sim was appointed as Chief Executive of Standard Bank South Africa. He was appointed as one of three Deputy Chief Executives of the Standard Bank Group in April 2009. In June 2012, Sim took on the additional responsibility for Corporate and Investment Banking’s client franchise in South Africa.

In March 2013, Sim was appointed joint Chief Executive of the Standard Bank Group, extending his responsibilities to the banking businesses in Africa beyond South Africa and to the Group’s Wealth businesses. In September 2017, Sim was appointed as the sole Chief Executive of the Standard Bank Group.

Among other non-executive responsibilities over the course of his career, Sim has served on the Boards of the Liberty Group; Standard Bank’s subsidiary in Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC; the Banking Association of South Africa, including as Chairman; the Board and Council of Business Leadership South Africa; and the board of the International Monetary Conference.

Sim currently serves on the board of the Institute of International Finance, of which he is Vice-Chairman and Treasurer. Sim is a Fellow of the Institute of Bankers of South Africa and an Honorary Professor at the University of Stellenbosch Business School