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* Rob Shuter to take over by July 2017
* Has risk-management, banking experience
* Comes days after firm agreed to pay $1.7 bln fine
* MTN looks to overhaul governance standards, strategy (Adds analyst comment, appointment of head M&A)
By Tiisetso Motsoeneng
JOHANNESBURG, June 20 (Reuters) - South African mobile phoneoperator MTN Group named the head of Vodafone Europe as its new CEO on Monday, bringing in an outsider with arisk-management background 10 days after it agreed to pay a $1.7billion fine in Nigeria.
Rob Shuter, who also has a background in banking, replacesSifiso Dabengwa who resigned last November after Nigeria imposedthe penalty, the latest in a series of disputes exposinggovernance issues at Africa's biggest mobile phone operator.
The fine, originally set at $5.2 billion but reduced in asettlement, was imposed after MTN failed to deactivate more than5 million unregistered SIM cards. Nigerian authorities have beencracking down on unregistered cards, concerned they are beingused for criminal activity in a country battling an insurgencyby Islamist militant group Boko Haram.
"MTN has weathered a rather difficult storm and willcontinue to review its governance and management operatingstructure," said MTN Executive Chairman Phuthuma Nhleko, backingthe appointment of Shuter who will start by July 2017.
As well as leading MTN's efforts to overhaul its governancestandards, Shuter will also oversee the formulation of a newstrategic growth plan. The firm is looking for new revenuestreams as competition and regulation hits its profit margins.
Shuter, former head of investment banking at Standard Bank and managing director at Nedbank retailbanking unit division, has been CEO of Vodafone Netherlandssince 2012. In 2015, his role was expanded to include otherEuropean countries excluding the UK, Italy, Spain and Germany.
Analysts and investors welcomed the appointment of the SouthAfrican national, saying his track record meant he could helpMTN shake off the shackles of being regarded as a stock withlimited growth outlook.
"It's a strategically sound appointment because mobilephones are moving from being just a communication tool todistributing content and provide banking services," saidMomentum SP Reid analyst Sibonginkosi Nyanga.
Abax Investments, a Cape Town-based asset management firmthat holds shares in MTN, also welcomed Shuter. Founding memberand director Anthony Sedgwick said Shuter's background and trackrecord would be an important asset.
M&A BOSS
MTN also said it had appointed a new head of mergers,acquisitions and strategy to help look for new growth areas thatinclude encouraging its more than 300 million users to usemobile phones for everything from storing money to paying bills.
The company did not name the executive but said he had awealth of banking experience.
Founded with the government's help after the end ofapartheid in 1994, MTN was touted as one of South Africa'sbiggest corporate success stories with operations in more than20 countries in the Middle East and Africa.
But the company has been caught in the middle of disputesover its businesses in Iran, Syria and, most recently, Nigeria.It has also faced run-ins with authorities in other countrieswhere it operates, including Uganda and Cameroon.
Nhleko, who was appointed interim executive chairmanfollowing Dabengwa's resignation with an eye to renegotiatingthe fine in Nigeria, will revert to his role as non-executivechairman as soon as Shuter starts his new role.
Separately, Moody's affirmed MTN's Baa3 rating, saying thereduced Nigerian fine and payment terms were within thecompany's west African country's unit to pay off.
However, the rating agency maintained its negative outlookon the stock because MTN had been unable to repatriate dividendsfrom Nigeria over the last six months.
Shares in MTN, which have fallen about a third over the pastyear, closed down 0.25 percent at 144 rand. (Editing by James Macharia, Sonya Hepinstall and Pravin Char)
