Leading continental financial powerhouse, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), has announced the appointment of two top officials including Nana Araba Abban as Group Consumer Banking Head and Ayo Adepoju as Group Chief Financial Officer.
A statement signed by the Group Head, Corporate Communications of the Lomé-based parent company of the Ecobank Group, Adenike Laoye, and made available to Business Hilights, said both appointments are with immediate effects.
Both group heads will report directly to the Group Chief Executive Officer.
Nana Araba Abban is a Chartered Accountant (FCCA) with over 25 years’ experience in the Financial Services industry. During her career at Ecobank, Nana Araba Abban has held several senior positions including Group Head of Direct Banking, Head of Client Engagement and Senior Group Manager for Personal Banking.
Commenting on the new appointments, Ade Ayeyemi said “We are happy to confirm Nana as Group Head, Consumer Banking. She has extensive experience in the consumer banking space in various areas. Nana, who has been a senior member of the Consumer Banking team in the Group for some time will further grow our consumer business in line with our digital transformation agenda building on the successes we have had in the past. I convey hearty congratulations to Nana on this appointment.’
He added that “We are particularly pleased at the effectiveness of our succession planning as we have been able to fill vacancies from within the Bank. We will continue to grow our talent pool.”
Before joining Ecobank, Nana Araba Abban held several senior positions with Standard Chartered Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and other institutions in Product Portfolio Management, Product Accounting and Banking Operations. Nana Araba Abban holds an MBA, in Business in Emerging Markets from the University of Liverpool and Bachelor of Science in Mathematics & Statistics from Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London, UK. She is also a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Nana Araba Abban, the new Group Consumer Banking Head had been acting in that capacity prior to now, alongside her previous role of Group Head, Direct Banking.
Recalling that Adepoju was earlier appointed as the Acting Group Chief Financial Officer in April 2019, the Group Chief Executive Officer of ETI, noted that “We are pleased to announce Ayo’s appointment as Group Chief Financial Officer. During the period in which he has been performing the role in acting capacity, Ayo has shown clear capacity to lead our finance function. His financial acumen, industry knowledge and company experience, including playing a key role in our recent inaugural Eurobond issuance, make Ayo well qualified to provide financial leadership and strategic vision to the bank. I warmly congratulate Ayo and look forward to continuing to work with him closely”
Prior to his current role, Ayo Adepoju was Group Head of Business Performance and Analytics. He worked on the strategic aspects of the financial management of the Group, including close equity investor interaction. He has built up significant experience within the Group and has a deep understanding of the underlying drivers of the business across Africa which are imperative for the continued growth of the Group.
Ayo has also worked in the past as Ecobank’s Group Financial Controller, when he was responsible for financial and regulatory reporting for the Group. Prior to joining Ecobank, he had a career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in London and Lagos as an Assurance Manager in the financial services practice. He is an Accounting graduate of the University of Lagos, Nigeria, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with First Class Honours and has an MBA from Warwick Business School, United Kingdom. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) with national overall best prize awards at two consecutive stages of the ICAN examinations. He has attended executive education courses at both the Harvard Business School and the London Business School.
