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The group’s board will be chaired by Sola Oyinlola, while Agbaje, who has been moved from his managing director role at GTB, is its new CEO.

Ronald Adamolekun

Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) has appointed new board members as part of its corporate transformation process that will see Nigeria’s biggest lender by market value united alongside its subsidiaries into a business single entity under a parent company.
The bank is now different from a newly-created holding company, to be known by the name Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO).
The group’s board will be chaired by Sola Oyinlola, while Agbaje, who has been moved from his managing director role at GTB, is its new CEO. Cathy Echeozo has been appointed non-executive director, Suleiman Barau and Helen Bouygues are independent non-executive directors, and Adebanji Adeniyi executive director.
Miriam Olusanya, formerly an executive director at GTB, is now the chief executive of the commercial banking unit. The bank’s board is chaired by Ibrahim Hassan.
New directors are Olabode Agusto, Imoni Akpofure, Victoria Adefala, Jide Okuntola and Haruna Musa.
The financial services group’s consolidation involves its operations in 10 countries on the continent and in the United Kingdom, with the new structure opening up the path to establishing asset management and payments units.

“… as part of the restructuring process, the board of GTCO was constituted and the board of GTCO was reconstituted following the retirements of the following directors: (i) Mrs Osaretin Demuren (chairman); (ii) Mr Adebayo Adeola (non-executive director); (iii) Mr Demola Odeyemi (executive director); and (iv) Mr Bolaji Lawal (executive director),” it said in a Wednesday note.
The holdco structure permits GTCO to own controlling stakes in the companies under the group and oversee management resolutions without direct involvement in their regular business.
It provides also a bulwark against risk of exposure in that the parent company is not liable for the loss of any of its subsidiaries in the event of bankruptcy.

“We believe that a holding company will allow us take advantage of new business opportunities in the emerging competitive landscape and strengthen our earnings base,” said incoming CEO Segun Agbaje.
Currently having its moment in the banking industry of Africa’s largest economy, the holding company mode already has FBN Holdings, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and the FCMB Group in its fray while others like Access Bank and Sterling Bank are in the changeover process.

PROFILES

Hezekiah Oyinlola (Chairman)

Hezekiah Oyinlola holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting (First Class Hons.) from University of Ghana, Legon in 1979 and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from Stanford University, United States of America. He is a seasoned professional with over thirty years’ work experience in oil and gas, having worked with Schlumberger Group from 1984 to June 2016.

Mr. Oyinlola is an alumnus of several local and international training programs on Infrastructure and Energy Finance, Reservoir Engineering, Petroleum Fiscal Systems and Economics. Project Finance, International Tax Management, Crisis Management and Management, Banking, Finance, Trade and Investment at institutions such as the Oxford University Institute for Energy Studies, Institute for Management Development, (IMD), Switzerland. He joined the Board of GTBank in 2014.

Segun Agbaje (Group Chief Executive Officer)

Segun Agbaje is the Group Chief Executive Officer of GTCO, which has a client base of over 20 million customers and business outlays across ten African Countries and the United Kingdom.
Agbaje started his career in 1988 as on Auditor at Ernst & Young. USA. He subsequently joined GTBank as a pioneer staff in 1991 and rose through the ranks to become Executive Director in 2000 and Deputy Managing Director in 2002. In 2011, he was appointed managing director and CEO of GTBank, and under his leadership the bank became one of Nigeria’s most profitable banks, maintaining impressive year on year growth in market share and profitability.

He holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Master’s in Business Administration, both from the University of San Francisco, USA. He is also an alumnus of the Harvard Business School and has over 30 Years of experience in investment, commercial and international banking.
Mr. Agbaje currently serves on the boards of GTBank (Ghana) Limited, GTBank (UK) Limited, GTBank (Kenya) Limited and GTBank (Tanzania) Limited. He is also a director on the MasterCard Advisory Board (Middle East and Africa), and was elected to the Board of Directors of PepsiCo Inc., USA as an Independent Director and a member of the company’s audit committee in July 2020.

Catherine Echeozo (Non- Executive Director)

Catherine Echeozo started ner 33-year banking career in 1984 with Chase Merchant Bank Nigeria and also worked with Ecobank Nigeria Plc. She then began her 24-year career with GTBank in 1993. She was appointed to the Board of GTBank as an Executive Director in March 2001, and Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the Bank in 2011 and served in that capacity until her retirement in March 2017. Mrs. Echeozo also represented GTBank on the Board of Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) from 2008 till March 2017.

After her retirement in 2017 from GTBank, Mrs. Echeozo was appointed to the Council of The Nigerian Stock Exchange as the Second Vice President and also served as an Independent Director of Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited from 2017 —2020. She presently manages Cathingens Empowerment Initiative, her social intervention & investment entity.
Echeozo holds a first degree in Accountancy from the University of Nigeria, a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Maryland, University College, USA. She became a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria in the year 2000 and a Certified Information Systems Auditor in 2005.

Suleiman & Barau, OON, FCIB, FNIM (Independent Non-Executive Director)

Suleiman Barau holds post graduate degree in Economics and Certificates in Management Research and Projects Planning. He is a seasoned banker and economist. His experience in the banking sector covered merchant, commercial and central banking.
Barau was between 2007 and 2017a two term Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Prior to that, he was a Special Adviser to the CBN Governor between 2005 and 2007. Mr. Barau had been involved in significant reforms of the banking and financial services industry during these periods particularly on banking, payments and monetary policies.
Barau has received executive education from most of the major global business schools.

Mrs. Helen Lee Bouygues (Independent Non-Executive Director)

Mrs. Helen Bouygues received her Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, from Princeton University in Political Science anda Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business 3chool. 3he started her career in 1995 at J.P. Morgan in the M&A group in New York and in Hong Kong. From 2000 until 2004, she worked at Cogent Communications Inc. as Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer. She thereafter becamea Partner at Alvarez & Marsal Paris. where she left to launch her own consulting firm specialised in corporate turnaround and transformations in 2010. In 2014, she joined McKinsey & Company in Paris where she was Partner responsible for the Recovery and Transformation Services division. Since June 2017, she has been an active board member for multiple companies including Burelle SA, CGG SA, Neoen SA, Latécoére SA and Steinhoff Europe AG (representing the first and second lien creditors).

Adebanji Adeniyi (Executive Director)

Adebanji Adeniyi is an astute professional of over 24 years, he acquired consulting and auditing experience in Coopers & Lybrand 1996-1998, PricewaterhouseCoopers 1998-2000 & Arthur Andersen 2000-2001. During his stint at the Big 4, he garnered experiences within the Manufacturing, Oil and Gas and Financial Services Industry providing value adding financial statement audit, assurance & business advisory services.

Adeniyi started Banking at Lead Bank in 2001, rose to Deputy Manager/Head, Internal Audit with responsibilities for Inspection &, Internal Control functions, Implemented Control tools amongst other projects at the Bank. In February 2006, he joined GTBank, rose to General Manager & Chief Financial Officer, having responsibilities for the activities within Financial Control, Strategy and Group Reporting Division.
Adeniyi has worked on several projects with challenging objectives; GTBank Eurobonds issuance working with PwC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and White & Case.
Mr. Adeniyi is an Alumnus of University of Ibadan, graduated with Doctor of Vet Medicine Degree in 1995,a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA), bagged MBA in 1999 & HCIB in 2013.

Ibrahim Hassan (Chairman)

Ibrahim Hassan is a phenomenal leader, highly experienced petroleum geologist, economic analyst, serial entrepreneur, community leader and a philanthropist with over 27 years of professional experience in the Oil and Gas industry. Mr. Hassan holds an MSc. Degree in Oil and Gas Enterprise Management from the University of Aberdeen. United Kingdom (UK).
Mr. Hassan undertook extensive Executive level Business and Leadership Education in world-class institutions including Harvard Business School in Boston, USA, Columbia Business School USA, Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago, USA, Cranfield School of Management UK, London Business School, UK, Institute of Directors London and Institute for Management Development, Switzerland.
He joined the Board of GTBank in 2010.

Mrs. Miriam Olusonyo – (Managing Director)

Miriam Olusanya has over 23 years’ banking experience that cuts across transaction Services, Asset and Liability Management, Financial Markets, Investment Banking and Investor Relations.
Olusanya holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) degree from the University of lbadan, Nigeria and a Master of Business Administration (Finance and Accounting) from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom. Mrs. Olusanya has also attended several executive management and banking specific developmental programs in leading educational institutions around the world.
Mrs. Olusanya serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Guaranty Trust Bank (Gambia) Limited. She is also a member of the Financial Markets Sub- Committee of the Bankers’ Committee. the primary interactive policy platform made up of the Central Bank of Nigeria and banks.
Olusanya joined GTBank as an Executive Trainee and rose through the ranks until her appointment as Executive Director in 2018,a position she held until her appointment as Managing Director.

Olabode Agusto (Non-Executive Director)

Olabode Agusto obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from the University of Lagos in 1977. Mr. Agusto became an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria in 1981 and a F-ellow of the same association in 1991. He has over 40 years’ work experience in various organizations including UTC Motors Limited, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Nigeria International Bank Limited (now Citibank Nigeria Limited). He is the founder of Agusto & Co. Limited, which is the first credit rating agency licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in Nigeria.
In 2003, President Obasanjo appointed him as his Director-General/Adviser (Budget Matters) and a member of his Economic Team during his second term in office (2003-2007).

Mf. Agusto wasa non-Executive Director of Shell Nigeria Closed Pension Fund from 2009 to 2013. He was also the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Lagos State University from 2014-2015. Currently, he serves asa non- executive director on the board of Agusto & Co. Limited and Grand Cereals Limited (a subsidiary of UAC of Nigeria plc).
Mr. Agusto is a recipient of the national honour of Member of the Order of the Federal Republic. He joined the Board of GTBank in 2010.

Ms. Imoni Akpofure (Independent Non-Executive Director)

Ms. Imoni Akpofure is an experienced finance and sustainability professional with over 30 years’ of developed and developing country experience. Ms. Akpofure is a generalist with wide industry and geographic coverage and hasa deep understanding of Sub-Sahoran Africa.
Ms. Akpofure began her career as a civil & environmental engineer with Scott Wilson Kirkpatrick (now part of URS Corporation) in the UK, becoming a Chartered Civil Engineer in 1993. Following on MBA, Ms. Akpofure joined the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, and worked there from 1995 until her departure in 2013 as Director Western Europe. She joined the Board of GTBank in 2015.

Mrs. Victoria Adefolo (Independent Non-Executive Director)

Mrs. Victoria Adefola holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) degree in 1987 from the University of Lagos, Nigeria and a Master’s degree in International Law (LL.M) from University of Houston Bates Law School, Houston, Texas. She was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1988. Mrs. Adefala isa seasoned professional with over thirty-three
(33) years’ work experience in diverse industries including Manufacturing, Finance and Transportation as well as the Legal profession, having worked with the African Chamber of Commerce, Houston, Texas, Michelin Nigeria Limited and Alstom Nigeria.
Mrs. Adefala served as the Country President and Managing Director of Alstom Nigeria up till 2016. Prior to working at Alstom, she was an Executive Director at Michelin Nigeria Limited. and sits on the Board of both local and international companies. She is the Managing Partner of WHITGIFT Law Firm. She joined the Board of GTBank in 2017.

Jide Okuntola — (Deputy Managing Director)

Jide Okuntola’s banking and financial service experience spans across Transaction Services, Risk Management, Treasury, Financial Control, Oil and Gas as well as Fintech, by over the years actively interfacing and or assuming leadership roles in some of these business segments.
With over a decade experience in originating, advising, structuring and executing transactions in- excess of $13 Billion in Oil and Gas Financing, he was responsible for managing the Bank’s Oil and Gas portfolio covering the Upstream, Midstream and Downstream subsectors of the Oil and Gas industry.
Okuntola holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from the Lagos State University and a Master of Business Administration (Petroleum and Energy Economics) from the European-American University. He has attended several executive management and banking specific programs in leading educational institutions.
Okuntola joined GTBank as an Executive Trainee and rose through the ranks to become an Executive Director in 2018,a position he held until his appointment as Deputy Managing Director.

Haruna Musa – (Executive Director)

Haruna Musa holdsa Masters degree in Finance and Management (2009j from Cranfield University, United Kingdom, Masters in Business Administration (1998) from Bayero University, Kano and Bachelor of Agriculture degree (1991j from Ahmadu Bello University, Zario. He has worked previously with United Bank for Africa Plc ( 1997— 1998), FSB International Bank (J 998 — 2001), before joining GTBank in 2001.
Musa has over twenty-three (23) years’ experience, out of which 19 years was spent in various aspects of banking including banking operations, corporate banking, Commercial banking, Public Sector, Retail & SME Banking, Compliance and risk management. He joined the Bank in 2001 and rose through the ranks to become an Assistant General Manager and Group Head Public Sector, North East Division in 2006. Prior to his appointment as Executive Director. Mr. Musa was the General Manager in charge of the North East Division. He joined the Board in 2015.