Onasanya to retire as First Bank CEO in December

Bisi Onasanya, group managing director/chief executive officer of First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FBN), will step down from his position by the end of this year.

This was disclosed in a statement released by the bank, which explained that Onasanya’s retirement is in line with the bank’s succession plan and that his successor will be announced in the last quarter of the year.

“Mr. Onasanya is set to retire at a high point of his career as group managing director/chief executive officer, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of FBN Holdings Plc, at the successful completion of his tenure. His retirement takes effect at the end of the current financial year on December 31, 2015,” the bank said in a statement.

“Onasanya is retiring on the heels of an inspiring and enviable career spanning over three decades of diverse management and operational experience, 21 years of which he has spent with FirstBank, serving meritoriously in the last six years as Group Managing Director/CEO.

“He has been able to stabilise and modernise the expanding FirstBank brand since his appointment in 2009, thus reinforcing the confidence of the bank’s diverse stakeholders and the global financial public.

“Onasanya’s successor will be announced in the last quarter prior to his exit. This is in sync with FirstBank’s corporate governance practice, which provides for seamless transition for the office of Group Managing Director.”

The outgoing bank chief was project coordinator of ‘Century 2 the new frontier’, FirstBank’s far-reaching enterprise transformation project at the turn of the century, as well as project coordinator of the FirstBank Corporate Transformation project, which has seen the bank accentuate its foothold on modernisation.

He is a director at the African Finance Corporation (AFC) and has been chairman of First Registrars Nigeria Limited, Kakawa Discount House Limited, FBN Bank UK Limited and Unified Payments Limited.

He is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, associate member of the Nigerian Institute of Taxation, and fellow and member of council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.