Hannes
Wessels
Hannes Wessels is the Country Head, South Africa for Binance, the world’s largest crypto currency exchange. Hannes joined the firm at
“I am excited to join Binance at a time when crypto adoption is still in its infancy in South Africa and look forward to playing a leading role in Binance’s growth strategy in South Africa.”
Cryptocurrencies and the blockchain industry more generally have less than a 10% adoption rate in South Africa. The emergence of Bitcoin over the past decade has led to a vibrant industry supporting this phenomenon. Binance, recently celebrating its fifth birthday, has emerged as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and has connected users across the globe in its mission to increase the freedom of money, globally.
Before taking this position in July 2022, he was the Head of Global Banking, South Africa, at HSBC and was responsible for leading HSBC’s corporate and investment banking business in the country. This included the payments and cash management business, which was awarded Euromoney’s leading payments business in South Africa in 2021.
He was a member of the bank’s executive committee in South Africa and also served as chairman of the bank’s Employment equity committee in South Africa. During this time, HSBC’s multinational business grew to a top three player in the country. He was also a key contributor in achieving and maintaining the bank’s Tier 1 BEE rating, with HSBC being the first bank to achieve this prestigious status in South Africa.