Gtbank eyes one of its executive directors as Agbaje’s successor

… advances into having Holdco structure by Q1’21

One out of the five executive directors of Nigeria’s Tier-1 lender - Gtbank plc will be selected as a successor of Segun Agbaje, the current managing director, who will be completing his maximum 10-year tenure by 2021. Agbaje said this during GTBank half-year (H1) 2020 investor earnings call session that the bank was working with a consulting firm in the United Kingdom.

“We are working with a consulting firm in the United Kingdom. We are looking at what we think the future would hold and what we think the Nigerian banking industry would look like.

“What we are looking for now is a Managing Director for Guaranty Trust Bank Nigeria. The process has started and I have always told people that we have five Executive Directors and so all of them are going through a process at the moment,” Agbaje said, who also noted that that bank had gone far into its arrangement to have

a Holding Company (Holdco) structure by first-quarter (Q1) of 2021.

“At the end of the process, which would end at the beginning of the fourth quarter (Q4), we will have a Managing Director for Gtbank Nigeria. We are on track. Succession to Gtbank Nigeria is well under control,” he said.

Gtbank is working to secure all regulatory approvals from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and in other regions to achieve the Holdco structure, he said.

Gtbank recently released its audited financial results for the half year (H1) ended June 30, 2020, to the Nigerian and London stock exchanges. The half-year result reflects GTBank’s leading position as one of the best managed financial institutions in Africa.

Operationally, Gtbank will split into three when the Holdco structure is achieved. This will lead to having Guaranty Trust Bank Nigeria; Guaranty Trust Bank East Africa, almost operating as a region and Guaranty Trust Bank West Africa operating as a region.

The Holdco will have other business units like Asset Management, a Pension Fund Administrator (PFA) and a payment company. Hopefully this week, Gtbank would put in its application for final approval for the payment company, according to Agbaje.