… Highly reputed as architect of the modern FirstBank
Mr. Bisi 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 and Nigeria’s most valuable banking
brand, at the successful completion of his tenure.
His retirement takes effect at the end of the current Financial Year on
December 31 2015. Mr. 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
publics.
Mr. 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. As is well known, FirstBank’s corporate governance posture has
won it much respect and awards both locally and internationally.
A seasoned banker and chartered accountant, Mr. Onasanya is a highly
respected and personable executive who has established a reputation at
FirstBank for solid performance and sound judgment. He is widely reputed
as the architect of the modern FirstBank, associated with various
innovative and creative achievements. He 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 accentuating its foothold on modernisation. Mr. Onasanya
also superintended the latest composite Corporate Identity/Brand Refresh
of the FirstBank Group, a bold step heralding the international expansion
of the FirstBank brand.
A corporate strategy and development pacesetter, Mr. Onasanya has ensured
the steady internationalisation of FirstBank, which under his leadership
now boasts of subsidiaries with operations across Africa, Europe, the
Middle East and Asia.
He is also reputed as a people person having pioneered significant
transformation in the development of staff at FirstBank. His tenure saw
the transformation of the bank’s training centre into FirstAcademy, a best
in class corporate university that recently clinched the 2015 Global
Council of Corporate Universities Award for best impact by a corporate
university on the implementation of business strategies. The bank has also
received the highly coveted Best Place to Work award.
An articulate and insightful thought leader in the financial services
industry, Mr. Onasanya has made meaningful contributions as a member of
the Bankers Committee and is the Chairman of the Sub Committee on Ethics
and Professionalism. He has served as a member of the Chartered Institute
of Bankers Sub-Committee on Fiscal and Monetary Policies and a member of
the Presidential Committee on Reduction of Interest Rates. He has also
delivered several papers and served on various conferences C-Suite panels
across the globe. He is Editor of the new book, “Perspectives on Banking
in Nigeria”, featuring a collection of learned articles by banking and
finance professionals including operators, regulators and academics.
Mr. Onasanya is a Director of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and has
been Chairman of First Registrars Nigeria Limited, Kakawa Discount House
Limited, FBN Bank UK Limited and Unified Payments Limited. A Fellow of the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria he is also an Associate
Member of the Nigerian Institute of Taxation and a Fellow and Member of
Council of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. Mr. Onasanya was early in
2015 honoured as The Sun Man of the Year 2014 and Newswatch Man of the
Year 2014 respectively, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to
national development in the financial services industry.
Under Mr. Onasanya’s leadership FirstBank has been back to back winner of
both national and international awards, having been named “The Best Bank
Brand in Nigeria” four times in a row – 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 – by
the globally renowned “The Banker Magazine” of the Financial Times Group.
For four consecutive years, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015 FirstBank has been
named the “Best Retail Bank in Nigeria” by the Asian Banker International
Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards. Other recent awards
include the “Best Bank in Nigeria” in the Euromoney Awards for Excellence,
“Best Bank in West Africa” and “Most Innovative Bank in Africa” in the
African Banker Awards, “Best Bank in Nigeria” in the EMEA Finance African
Banking Awards for the fourth time, “Best Foreign Exchange Services in
Africa” in the EMEA Finance Treasury Services Awards, “Best Banking Group
in Nigeria” by World Finance Banking Awards, and “Best Financial Reporting
Company” by Africa Investor