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Luís Cunha

Senior PartnerLisbon

As the managing partner of McKinsey South Africa, advises clients on strategy, operations, and organization—with particular focus on the banking, insurance, and public sectors—and helps lead our European banking work

Luis is a Senior Partner in the Johannesburg Office.

Luis joined McKinsey in 1994, was elected partner in 2002 and Senior Partner in 2008.

Luis currently leads our Banking and Insurance practices in Africa, but in the past has served as Managing Partner of our Portugal office and leader of our EMEA Marketing in Banking Practice.

In August 2015 Luis relocated to Johannesburg with his family.

Examples of recent projects

  • Defining strategy and actual implementation of the first Digital Attacker bank in one of the large African economies
  • Defining Retail Digital strategy for a major South African Bank
  • Defining International expansion opportunity for a leading South African financial institution
  • Applying innovative corporate credit portfolio restructuring approach for a Sub-Saharan development bank
  • Helping deliver a major retail growth transformation for a leading Nigerian bank
  • Assessing partnership opportunity in the Corporate and Investment Banking space
  • Assisting on the complete overhaul of the Digital Channel of a large Southern African bank
  • Developing and helping launch a productivity and efficiency transformation for a leading south African retail bank

Published work

Lessons from the rapidly evolving regulation of digital banking,” McKinsey & Company, October 2021

A credit lifeline: How banks can serve SMEs in South Africa better,” McKinsey & Company, December 2020

African retail banking’s next growth frontier,” McKinsey & Company, February 2018

“Portugal: The imperative of growth” (PDF–1.9 MB), McKinsey & Company and Confederacao Empresarial de Portugal, December 2011

“It takes two to tango: Boosting sales through loyalty,” (PDF–1 MB), Banking in a changing world, December 2006

Past experience

Procter & Gamble
Sales department

Education

INSEAD
MBA

Católica Lisbon School of Business and Economics
Undergraduate degree, business administration