Board of directors of Fidelity Bank Plc, Tuesday, named Nnamdi Okonkwo as successor to Reginald Ihejiahi, who will serve out his 10-year maximum term as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the financial institution by February, next year.
Okonkwo, who is currently an Executive Director in charge of the South Directorate of the Bank holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agriculture Economics from the University of Benin and an MBA in Banking and Finance from Enugu State University.
He is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Programme of INSEAD Business School, Fontainebleau, France. Besides, he has attended various business and management training courses both within and outside the country, at institutions like Harvard Business School, Oxford University among others.
Okonkwo comes with over 23 years of experience in various aspects of banking. Between 2006 and 2009, he was Managing Director of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Ghana, and between 2008 and 2009, he doubled as the Regional Chief Executive Officer for UBA West African Monetary Zone, with responsibility for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
He later became Divisional Head for the Corporate Bank Directorate between 2009 and 2012, before coming back to Fidelity Bank, as Executive Director, having earlier worked in Fidelity Bank (old FSB that consolidated to form the enlarged Fidelity) between 1998 and 2000. In that period, he had been Senior Manager in branches both in Lagos and Port Harcourt.
Between 2004 and 2005, Nnamdi had been General Manager in Standard Trust Bank (which later became UBA) and later in 2005, was Regional Director of UBA in charge of branches in the Federal Capital Territory, Niger and Kogi States.
Okonkwo is the third Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank after 25 years of operation, making the financial institution one of the most stable management in the industry.
Following the policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which stipulated a maximum term of 10 years for bank CEOs, Ihejiahi, who assumed duties in early 2004, will have served out his term in February 2014.
Ihejiahi took over Fidelity Bank Plc and inherited the challenge of setting the course for growth. From being among the top 30 banks in Nigeria with N20 billion in deposits, N30 billion in total assets and less than 150,000 in customers, he orchestrated the consolidation of the legacy Fidelity Bank with the former FSB International Bank Plc and Manny Bank Plc to form the currently enlarged Fidelity Bank Plc that now ranks among the top 10 banks in the country with over $1 billion in equity, over N1trillion in total assets and 2.3 million customers represented in 220 branches from 17 branches with presence in all the state capitals and major commercial centres in Nigeria.
Fidelity, is today the sixth largest bank in the country, by shareholders’ funds, and one of the few companies that have consistently paid dividends, without fail, in the last eight years.
Ihejiahi and his team also led some of the landmark international financial transactions in the industry including the issue of Global Deposit Receipts (GDR) in 2007 and the $300m debut issue of internationally traded Eurobond in 2013. Fidelity Bank Plc is rated very highly by two International Rating Agencies – Fitch (BBB+) and S and P (BBB+), as well as locally by Agusto and Co. (BBB+).
Ihejiahi said, “we are very pleased with the appointment of Nnamdi Okonkwo. He has a combination of experience and intelligence. I am confident that he will raise the institution to higher levels in the drive to accomplish our mission to make financial services easy and accessible to customers, while delivering good returns to all stakeholders”.
Upon confirmation by the regulators, Mr. Okonkwo’s appointment will take effect from February 2014.
