Bank

WEMA Bank Plc announces CEO Retirement and Appointment of new MD/CEO

Published

1 month ago

December 30, 2022

Sahara Weekly

WEMA Bank Plc announces CEO Retirement and Appointment of new MD/CEO

Wema Bank PLC (Bloomberg: Wema NL) (“Wema” or “the Bank”) announces retirement of its Managing Director/CEO.

· Managing Director/CEO Ademola Adebise to retire from Wema Bank Plc; with effect from March 31, 2023.
· Moruf Oseni, current Deputy Managing Director appointed as Managing Director/CEO

· Wole Akinleye, Executive Director appointed as Deputy Managing Director and Tunde Mabawonku appointed as Executive Director.

Wema Bank Plc. hereby announces the retirement of its Managing Director/CEO, Ademola Adebise. He will be proceeding on terminal leave from January 2nd, 2023, after over 13 years of meritorious service on the Board of the Bank. He will be succeeded by Moruf Oseni, currently the Deputy Managing Director.

Moruf Oseni

Ademola Adebise was appointed as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Wema Bank Plc in June 2018. He joined the Bank in June 2009 as an Executive Director and rose to become the Deputy Managing Director in 2015. Under his leadership, he expanded the bank’s footprints to other locations in Nigeria, he improved the performance of the Bank and spearheaded the first Dividend payment in 13 years, since then, he has ensured consistent dividend payment over the last 4 years. The Bank has grown its Total Assets by 155%, from N470 billion to over N1.2trillion. Deposits also grew by 214% from N350 billion to N1.1 trillion. He initiated the partnership with Bank of Africa to support its customers across the African continent which has increased the Bank’s market share and customer base. All these led to an additional growth of 2 million customer accounts in Nigeria and a market share of 3% of industry volumes. The Bank is now the leading collection bank for state and government agencies due to its effective and efficient platform. The Bank’s rating by agencies was upgraded to BBB investment grade.

The Bank significantly changed the digital landscape through the ALAT platform. The innovative platform also came tops in the KPMG Digital Scorecard for leading retail banks in Nigeria and this was based on in-depth insights into the state of user experience on retail banks’ digital channels. Furthermore, the Bank launched the first SME Business School for capacity building and empowerment of SMEs – this has benefitted over 20,000 small businesses. The Bank also became one of the founding members of the United Nations Environmental plan for financial institutions (UNEP- FI) and continues to provide digital solutions for societal impact.

The Chairman of the Board, Mr. Babatunde Kasali on behalf of the Board and Management expressed its profound gratitude to Ademola for his service and wish him the best in his future endeavors.

Further, Wema Bank Plc. is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Moruf Oseni as the Managing Director/CEO subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Moruf Oseni joined Wema Bank in June 2012 as an Executive Director. He has over 25 years of experience with more than 16 years at Senior and Executive Management levels. Moruf Oseni was an Executive Director for 6 years and Deputy Managing Director for the last 4 years and has demonstrated capacity to lead the Bank. He presently has responsibility for the Digital Optimization Directorate which includes – Digital, Retail, Treasury, Operations, and the Technology Divisions. Moruf is also the Executive Compliance Officer of the Bank. He supervised the launch of ALAT – Nigeria’s 1st digital Bank that has received local and global awards and multiple accolades. Before joining Wema Bank, Moruf was the CEO of MG Ineso Limited, a principal investment and financial advisory firm. Prior to MG Ineso, Moruf was a Vice President at Renaissance Capital, and an Associate at Salomon Brothers/Citigroup Global Markets in London.

Moruf holds an MBA degree from the Institut European d’Administration des Affaires (INSEAD) in France, a Master’s in Finance (MiF) from the London Business School and a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He is also an alumnus of both the Advanced Management Program (AMP) of the Harvard Business School and King’s College, Lagos.

Other Board appointments include:

Wole Akinleye: Appointed as the Deputy Managing Director. Wole has over 32 years Banking experience. He presently oversees Corporate Banking and South West Business Directorate for the Bank. A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Wole is an alumnus of the Advanced Management Program of the Harvard Business School. He obtained his first degree in Accounting from Obafemi Awolowo University in 1989 and subsequently, a master’s degree in Business Administration (Finance) from the same University.

Tunde Mabawonku: Appointed as Executive Director. He has over 23 years of experience and is presently the Chief Finance Officer and the Divisional Head of Finance & Corporate Services. Tunde has a master’s in finance from the London Business School and a first degree in Economics from University of Ibadan. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) & Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN) and is an Honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (HCIB). He has also attended several Senior Leadership programs.

In conclusion, the Board of Directors are confident that the appointment of the Executives will lead to the continued transformation and growth of the Bank, particularly as the Bank positions itself as a market leader in Nigeria’s retail banking segment through technology and innovation.

The appointments take effect from April 1, 2023 and are subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria and other regulatory authorities.

By Order of the Board.

Bank

STERLING BANK: TRUE POSITION ON THE ICPC’S ALLEGATION ON OUR ABUJA REGIONAL OFFICE

Published

17 hours ago

February 8, 2023

Sahara Weekly

STERLING BANK: TRUE POSITION ON THE ICPC’S ALLEGATION ON OUR ABUJA REGIONAL OFFICE

This report is developed for the purpose of providing the true representation of events tothe narrative as expressed by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) ina tweet late on Tuesday, February 7, 2023.

Background

1. A regulatory monitoring team visited our Abuja Central Business District (CBD)Complex on February 3, 2023.

2. The monitoring team, in the company of the branch service manager and otherstaﬀ, inspected and observed the following꞉

a. The branch’s ATMs were dispensing all denominations of the newly designed notes.

b. The branch was in full compliance with the regulator’s recommendations onOver ‑ The‑Counter (OTC) disbursements.

During the inspection, the monitoring team made inquiries about the details of thecash observed in the vaults. To which the team responded with details of the branch’sATM and OTC cash disbursement processes.

To our knowledge, all responses provided were satisfactory as no further queries were raised.

The monitoring team promptly left the premises upon concluding the inspection.

3. Approximately one hour later, oﬃcials of the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), accompanied by the monitoring team, returned tothe branch and removed two of the branch’s staﬀ for further questioning at theICPC headquarters in Abuja.

4. The Sterling staﬀ were held at the ICPC oﬃce and were later released withoutany charges levied against them by the close of the business day on February 3, 2023.

About the visit to Sterling Bank, CBD, Abuja

1. The Sterling branch at the Central Business District, Abuja, is a regional headquartersand serves as a hub for 5 Sterling branches and 15 ATM terminals within the region.

2. During the visit, members of the monitoring team inspected the vault of the branchand observed the sum of N258,000,000 in N1000, N500 and N200 denominations.

3. The distribution records from the CBD branch to other locations served within the region were presented for the evaluation of the monitoring team.

4. The monitoring team proceeded to visit two branches in Utako and Wuye as both locations receive their cash disbursements from the regional headquarters ofSterling in CBD.

5. Upon their visits to the Utako and Wuye branches, the monitoring team reviewedthe records submitted for the movement of cash from the CBD branch to otherbranches served within the region. It is important to state that cash was being paidover the counter at both branches, and the ATM terminals were dispensing the newly designed denominations during the monitoring exercise.

Matters Arising

Sterling deems it necessary to point out the following꞉

1. Members of the regulatory monitoring team were informed of the sums contained inthe branch’s vault prior to the inspection. These sums were conﬁrmed with areview of the records as presented by representatives of the Bank.

The assertion of a “discovery”, as presented in the narrative, is inaccurate andgrossly misleading.

2. All cash observed in the vault of the CBD branch was earmarked for distribution toother branches in the region for disbursement to customers of the bank and the public.

3. The sum of N5,000,000 each as contained in the monitoring team’s report,represents the cash moved to augment the vault balances of the Utako, Wuye,Seda Close and Kotangora branches (in line with the bank’s daily routine of cashmanagement) and also for disbursement to the public via their ATM terminals.

4. All balances in our vaults are reported daily to the Central Bank of Nigeria and form the basis for the allocation of new notes in an eﬃcient manner; it is therefore,untrue that such monies are ‘stashed’ or ‘hoarded.’

Sterling’s Distribution of New Notes

From the commencement of the distribution of the re‑designed denominations, the CBD branch has received the total sum of N1,543,000,000 from the apex bankand paid to customers as summarized below꞉

1. The sum of N892,700,000 paid out in about 104,821 transactions across 15ATM terminals between January 6 to February 6, 2023.

2. The sum of N78,600,000 paid out in approximately 3,892 over‑the‑counter transactions across all 6 branches in the Abuja region between February 2, 2023 to February 6, 2023.

This was commenced upon receipt of the directive from the regulator to disburse thenew notes over the counter ‑ subject to a limit of N20,000 per transaction.

3. The sum of N1,000,000,000 in a combination of old and new notes, wasdisbursed to customers over the counter in about 2,124 transactions betweenDecember 15, 2022 and January 5, 2023.

The current balances across the 6 branches in Abuja as at the close of business onFebruary 7, 2023 stood at N178,670,000.

The average vault balances currently held in the six locations is N30m per branch; well below our historical vault balances.

Conclusions

1. The representatives of the bank duly informed the regulatory monitoring teamand oﬃcials of the ICPC of the sums in the vault, stating the purpose as intended for distribution to other branches.

2. It must be noted that no cash was “stashed” in the vault of the regional oﬃce.

For emphasis, we wish to state that Sterling Bank has complied with all the guidelines onthe distribution of redesigned notes from inception to date.

Bank

CBN NAIRA REDESIGN POLICY IS A THREAT TO NIGERIA’S DEMOCRACY AND NATIONAL SECURITY & MUST BE REVERSED NOW!

Published

1 day ago

February 7, 2023

Sahara Weekly

CBN NAIRA REDESIGN POLICY IS A THREAT TO NIGERIA’S DEMOCRACY AND NATIONAL SECURITY & MUST BE REVERSED NOW!

A civil society organization Centre for Social and Economic Rights (CSER) has come out to condemn the naira redesign policy of the Central bank of Nigeria due to the untold trauma, hardship, pain and suffering it has inflicted on innocent Nigerians and businesses in the last couple of weeks.

According to a press statement issued in Lagos today Tuesday 7th February 2023 by it’s executive director Nelson Ekujumi, the group, “frowned at and condemned in the strongest terms the punitive, wicked, satanic, irresponsible, insensitive, provocative, threat to democracy and national security implementation of the naira redesign policy on Nigerians, which was initially applauded as laudable by even CSER in another press statement of the 29th of January 2023 when the deadline for phasing out old naira notes as a legal tender was extended till February 10 and it’s redeemable status extended to 17th February 2023”.

In the last two weeks based on our physical monitoring and observation of developments, the pains, sufferings, trauma, threat to public peace and security that this naira redesign policy has generated within the polity, has exposed to any discerning mind, that the CBN Governor Mr Godwin Emefiele and his associates have employed the naira redesign policy as a ploy to unveil their sinister agenda of inflicting untold hardship, pains and incite Nigerians to anarchy in order to truncate the peaceful conduct of the 2023 general elections.

We have watched in horror how innocent Nigerians have been subjected to unimaginable sufferings in queues at banks, ATM’s points, POS operators points, etc to withdraw their hard earned money to no avail on a daily basis and despite the extension of the deadline on the 29th January 2023, the situation has gotten worse across the country and there is no end in sight.

According the organization, what is even more painful is the exploitation and extortion generated by this wicked and anti people naira redesign policy, whereby innocent and hardworking Nigerians are fleeced of their money as they are forced to pay commission as high as N6000 in exchange for cash of N20, 000. Infact, CSER has been inundated with calls of different phases of extortion that makes one to wonder that only a sadist and a degenerate institution will be happy to see people undergo such amount of torture and suffering in order to take possession of what legitimately belongs to them.

The group stated that, “Even as we speak, the CBN is in default of enforcing and monitoring the implementation of it’s directive issued to deposit money banks via a memo dated 6th December 2022, whereby it instructed banks and other financial institutions to pay customers only a maximum of N20, 000 daily via ATM’s and that it should be in the N200 naira denomination. Till date, since about two weeks ago, customers have been unable to access above N5, 000 daily from their personal accounts, businesses are gradually winding down and dying because customers and petty traders who engage in little daily cash transactions for daily needs have been denied their legitimate money warehoused in the banks”.

By this amount of wickedness unleashed, suffering and torture of innocent Nigerians and businesses by the CBN, the little gains accruing from the advocacy of banking culture that we have struggled for over the years among our rural populace, has obviously been eroded and it is sad and unfortunate.

The traumatizing aspect of the wickedness by CBN and it’s associates in inflicting pains and hardship on Nigerians by this policy which has revealed the sinister plot of Mr Emefiele and his cohorts, is the effontery in mobilizing groups, political parties and politicians to hold rallies, press conferences and even issue shameless threats of a boycott of the 2023 general elections if the naira redesign policy is reversed and the pains of Nigerians ameliorated. We are confident that these agents of anarchy and their sponsors will fail because the victory of evil over good is just temporary.

As the 2023 general elections draws near in a couple of days, Nigerians are enjoined to take note of politicians and political parties gloating over the pains and misery of Nigerians by this policy for political capital in contrast to those who have shown genuine concerns and raised the red flag early enough as caring and respond appropriately to them with their votes at the polls.

At CSER, we sympathize with Nigerians and share in their pains, just as we urge that they keep faith with democracy and remain law abiding even in the face of this needless provocation by agents of destabilization.

CSER then demanded a total reversal of the naira redesign policy because it’s objective which was hidden has become manifest in the untold pains and sufferings visited on innocent Nigerians and businesses which is undemocratic and unacceptable, just as it called on the national assembly to immediately pass a vote of no confidence on the headship of the CBN through a resolution demanding the removal from office of Mr. Emefiele for official misconduct act of undermining national security and democracy and communicate it to President Muhammadu Buhari for executive action.

God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Thank you.

Yours Sincerely,

Nelson Ekujumi,

Executive Director.

Bank

Abiodun engages CBN, Bankers Committe over cash scarcity

Published

3 days ago

February 6, 2023

Sahara Weekly

Abiodun engages CBN, Bankers Committe over cash scarcity

…extracts promise of relief from Tuesday

The Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, on Monday, paid an unscheduled visit to the Abeokuta branch of the Central Bank of Nigeria to seek relief on the amounts that citizens can withdraw in exchange for deposits made in commercial banks.

The governor also offered to lend members of his cabinet to monitor cash distribution to banks to ensure that no commercial bank or their agents hoard the new naira notes in the state.

The governor stated these when he visited the management of the apex bank led by the Branch Controller, Wahab Oseni, in Abeokuta.

Abiodun who later met with Bankers Forum, made up of managers of commercial banks in the state, also extracted a commitment from both the CBN and commercial banks to make cash available to bank customers from Tuesday.

According to the governor, it is disappointing to see long queues of residents at Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), waiting to cash money from the system with so much stress and some not getting enough to meet their immediate needs.

He added that it is humiliating that those who were attended to were paid not more than two thousand naira per transaction.

Abiodun, however, urged the CBN to ensure the availability of new notes at commercial banks for people to withdraw their money.

The governor explained that he was compelled to visit the state branch of the CBN as the “landlord to find out how we can collaborate to ensure that success of the CBN policy on the new notes and currency swap”.

“I’ve met with the President and CBN governor. It is within the right of the CBN by law and as enshrined in the Constitution.

“Our people went out in their numbers but our people who deposited money and felt they would have as much money as they had deposited or need for their daily needs and welfare and wellbeing.

“We’ve had to suspend our campaigns. I met with people over the weekend who said to me that they have not eaten for days, especially, those from the informal sector.

“As a governor, whose primary function is the welfare and security of our people, I need to find out how we can interact with you to see how we can improve on the current level of distribution of the currency in order to diffuse tension”, Abiodun submitted.

The governor who appealed to the youths in the state not to embark on any civil unrest, noted that such actions would only shut down the economy of the state and make things much more difficult.

“I want to use this medium to talk to our youths that when there is a problem, the solution is not to hit the streets and to start protest marches; we can not solve a problem with another problem.

“I want to plead with our youths that rather than sending social media announcements of impending disobedience around town, they should embrace peace. We are a very peaceful state; we are very orderly and we have spent a lot of time and energy to invest in that peace and security.

“You cannot because of this problem now want to begin to hit the street to shut down the system and commercial activities.”

Earlier in his remarks, the state controller of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Wahab Oseni pleaded with the people to exercise patience.

He assured the people of the state that they will start having access to more cash as from tomorrow, Tuesday, February 7th, 2023.

Oseni while noting that the Ogun State branch of the bank has enough cash to distribute among commercial banks in the state, disclosed that the bank has come up with a plan that would see 40% cash disbursed to money agents, 30% paid across the counter and 30% paid through the Automatic Teller Machine.

He also added that Microfinance banks in the state have also been added to the plan of cash disbursement across the country.

At the meeting were representatives of the Central Bank of Nigeria from Lagos and Abuja, Mr Adefuye Adeyemi and Mr Kayode Makinde while assuring the good people of the state that the situation will improve Tuesday noted that the bank would ensure full compliance by commercial banks on the disbursement of cash.

Both the controller and the State government team led by Gov. Abiodun later had a session with commercial bank executives in his office to on modalities agreed with the apex bank to ease the naira scarcity facing the people.