The Board of Directors of United Bank for Africa Plc, West Africa’s largest financial services group with assets in excess of US$14 billion, has approved a major repositioning exercise to fully enable the Bank realise the next phase of its strategic growth and global expansion.

The exercise followed a 3-yearly strategic revalidation, carried out by the Bank, working with McKinsey, the global management consulting firm, on its objective of becoming the leading financial services group in Africa by 2010. The strategic repositioning identified thee key outputs: a new operating structure; the appointment of two Deputy Managing Directors and 3 new Executive Directors; as well as the realignment of the portfolios of existing senior management - all aimed at ensuring exceptional service to the bank’s over six million customers.

Specifically the Group has now been structured into six Strategic Business Groups and three Strategic Support groups.  All nine Strategic groups report to the GMD/CEO.

The six Strategic Business Groups have responsibility for customer interface and business development and include:

§        UBA Plc Nigeria-South,

§        UBA Plc Nigeria-North,

§        UBA Capital,

§        UBA International,

§        UBA Retail Financial Services and

§        UBA Products & Segment Banking

Nigeria , currently the Bank’s largest market, has been divided into the North and South clusters, each to be led by a Deputy Managing Director. UBA Nigeria-North will provide banking services to customers within Northern Nigeria and deepen the Bank’s penetration in this region. UBA Nigeria-South shall provide similar services within the Southern region of Nigeria.

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UBA Capital will provide investment banking, asset management, wealth management and merchant banking services with a scope of operations that covers Nigeria, the African continent and global financial centres where UBA Plc has presence. It is made up of nine subsidiary companies that are market leaders in different sub sectors of the Nigerian Capital Market.

UBA International has been created to spearhead the Bank’s global expansion plans and continue to deepen the Group’s market penetration of the African continent and the global banking arena.

UBA Retail Financial Services is a new and unique service platform established to provide a wide range of financial services targeting non-bank customers across Africa, through non-branch channels such as direct sales agents, telemarketing, internet, consumer outlets, dealers, microfinance banks, etc.

UBA Global Products & Segment Banking is the directorate charged with the responsibility of actively developing market opportunities by designing and offering products, managing segments and service delivery channels, all aimed at serving the current and future needs of the Group’s customers.

The three Strategic Support Functions have responsibility for Group Shared Services that will enable the group exploit the benefits of scale and imbibe more rigorous discipline across business processes. This is designed to enable the delivery of superior operational efficiency, governance standards, controls and superlative customer service. The functions are:

1.                        The Group Operations Office , headed by the Group Chief Operating Officer (GCOO), will ensure efficient delivery of business infrastructure, operational controls and business oversight across UBA Group Shared Services, to improve overall efficiency and performance in line with group strategy.

2.                        Group Chief Finance Office (GCFO) responsible for maintaining and managing systems and processes that promote the financial efficiency and financial integrity of the Group’s operations, including management information system, performance management, financial and regulatory reporting, financial control and cost management, corporate productivity enhancement, budgeting and associated imperatives.

3.                        Group Chief Risk Office (GCRO) will design and manage systems and processes that continuously monitor risk and deliver regulatory compliance in all jurisdictions where UBA operates ensuring that risk is proactively identified and effectively managed across UBA Group.

“We are optimizing the potential that exists in our great bank and those of our subsidiary and associated companies in order to remain large yet nimble and responsive to the ever-changing needs of our customers” said Tony Elumelu, GMD/CEO UBA Plc.  

One of the propelling forces behind UBA is the cohesiveness of its board and management team. To drive the implementation of the new operating structure, the Board has approved new executive appointments and the re-alignment of the existing management team thus:

Faith Tuedor-Matthews , former Regional Bank Head, Abuja has been appointed Deputy Managing Director Nigeria-North. Mrs. Tuedor-Matthews, one of Nigeria’s most respected female corporate leaders has over two decades experience in the Nigerian banking industry. Besides being an alumnus of Harvard Business School, she holds an MBA from the University of Aston, Birmingham, UK and a post-graduate Diploma in Marketing from Staffordshire University, UK.

Phillips Oduoza has been appointed Deputy Managing Director overseeing UBA Nigeria-South, which covers the bank’s core banking operations in the South, East and West regions of the country including Lagos State. The former Executive Director, Electronic & Transaction Banking brings more than 23 years of banking experience to his new role. He holds a First Class B.Sc (Civil Engineering) Degree, an MBA (Finance) from University of Lagos and is an Alumnus of the Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program.

Chika Mordi formerly Executive Director, Investment & Asset Management is now the CEO of UBA Capital.  In this role, he will oversee 9 subsidiaries across three continents, which provide a comprehensive range of financial services including Investment Banking, Pensions Custodian, Registrars, Trading and Advisory services. Chika is a seasoned and well-respected multi-lingual banker. Formerly Managing Director of Continental Trust Bank prior to the STB-UBA merger, Chika is currently the Chairperson of the Credit Reference Company of Nigeria. He holds graduate and post graduate degrees in Economics and had additional training at the Spanish Institute of Higher Business Studies (IESE) as well as the Harvard Business School.

Victor Osadolor, Executive Director has been appointed Group Chief Finance Officer with responsibility for managing systems and processes that will promote efficiency and financial integrity.  Mr. Osadolor is a seasoned Banker and Chartered Accountant. He is an Associate Member, Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and Honorary Life Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN). Victor is an Alumnus of Harvard Business School co-chaired the team that midwifed the STB-UBA integration process. He serves on the Board of ATM Consortium Limited Nigeria as Vice Chairman.

Emmanuel Nnorom has been appointed to Executive Director and appointed Group Chief Operating Officer. His portfolio includes, Information Technology (IT), Operations, Corporate Services, Marketing & Communications, Customer Service, UBA Properties, Human Resources and Regulatory Affairs.  Mr. Nnorom is a seasoned auditor and accountant and brings over 2 decades of experience to his new role. He is an Alumnus of the Oxford University Templeton College, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), winning First Prize in the finals of the May 1982 ICAN examinations. He trained as an accountant with Peat Marwick Castleton Elliot & Co.

Rasheed Olaoluwa has been appointed Executive Director and CEO of UBA International, with responsibility for driving the Group’s rapid global expansion strategy. He holds a First Class degree in Civil Engineering, an Executive MBA from the Spanish Institute of Higher Business Studies (IESE) and trained at Arthur Andersen where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. Mr. Olaoluwa has had a long banking career, playing senior roles in marketing and relationship management, treasury management, currency trading and investment banking. He was MD/CEO of the former Universal Trust Bank Plc before joining post-merger UBA Plc.

Godwin Ize-Iyamu who is an Executive Director, has been assigned the portfolio of Wholesale Banking, UBA Nigeria-South. Formerly Regional Bank Head Lagos, Godwin is a well respected banker and administrator with a rich and diversified experience in corporate and wholesale banking. The University of Central Florida Engineering graduate also studied Accounting at the University of Houston and qualified as a Certified Public Accountant in 1983, having won the “The Top Ten Award” honours in Texas State in the 1982 Examinations.

Angela Nwabuoku has been appointed Executive Director overseeing of Products and Segment Banking. Mrs. Nwabuoku has over two decades experience in the banking industry in West Africa where she has held various senior positions in some Nigerian and regional banks. She holds a B.Sc. degree from The American University, Washington DC and has been an International associate of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants since 1985.

Ibrahim Jega, formerly Executive Director, North Bank, is now Executive Director, Public Sector & State Governments. The accomplished banker has over 25 years banking experience. He studied at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, earning a B.Sc and an MBA in Business Administration. Since joining the bank in 2004, he has played a prominent role in deepening the bank’s penetration of the Northern Nigerian market.

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Andre Blaauw is the newly appointed Group Risk Officer. A South African national who has over 20 years of International banking experience.  Prior to joining UBA, he was Executive in charge of the Enterprise Risk management division of ABSA Bank, South Africa; a member of the Barclays Group. Andre is an Alumnus of Witwatersrand Business School, with post graduate qualifications in Accounting and Mathematics.  He is a chartered financial analyst and member of the Association of Investment Management Research.

Abhinav Nehra is another key international hire. Appointed CEO of UBA Retail Financial Services, Abhinav, prior to joining UBA, was CEO for Retail & Private banking in one of the largest and oldest banks in Kuwait. He holds First Class degrees in Business Administration at both graduate and post graduate levels from Premier institutes in India. He spent 18 years with Citigroup in countries like India, Australia, Indonesia and UK, rising to the position of Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Citi Financial ( India), which was the most successful consumer finance franchise for Citigroup globally. He was nominated for the prestigious GLOBAL LEADERSHIP PROGRAMME for Citigroup which entailed a nine months residency in the US.

These appointments are just a few of the strategic hires that UBA has been making in the last twelve months to drive the Group’s ambitious growth, expansion and transformation programmes. With this new operating architecture and the caliber of the management team, UBA has ensured that it continues to be at the forefront of the African economic renaissance, and that it remains clearly on course to achieve its vision of being the foremost financial services institution on the continent and Africa’s global bank. 

“Following a 3-year strategic revalidation process, we have repositioned the Group for the next phase of growth and higher performance level.  As always, we are guided by our long term strategy of staying very close to our customers, making their lives easier and helping them achieve their life ambitions.” Elumelu further explained.