Zenith Bank Plc has appointed Ebenezer Onyeagwu as its Group
Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
According to a public disclosure issued to the Nigerian
Stock Exchange, Onyeagwu’s appointment will take effect from Saturday, June 1,
2019.
The newly-appointed MD/CEO will be succeeding Peter Amangbo,
whose tenure expires on Friday, May 31, 2019.
Ebenezer Onyeagwu’s professional career
Onyeagwu is a vastly experienced banker and financial
expert, trained in reputable institutions of learning in Nigeria, the United
Kingdom, and the United States of America.
He is an alumnus of the prestigious University of Oxford,
England, where he obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Financial Strategy, and a
certificate in Macroeconomics. He also undertook extensive executive level
business education in Wharton Business School of the University of
Pennsylvania, Columbia Business School of Columbia University, the Harvard
Business School of Harvard University (all in the United States) and Lagos
Business School of the Pan African University, Nigeria.
Onyeagwu is a Chartered Accountant and was named a Fellow of
the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA), in 2003.
With nearly 30 years experience in the banking industry in
Nigeria, Onyeagwu, who is a graduate of accounting from Auchi Polytechnic,
began his career at the defunct Financial Merchant Bank in 1991 and later held
several management positions in the erstwhile Citizens International Bank
Limited until 2002.
He joined Zenith Bank Plc in 2002 as a Senior Manager, in
the Internal Control and Audit Group of the bank. His professionalism, competence, integrity
and commitment to the set objectives of the bank saw him rise swiftly between
2003 and 2005, first, as Assistant General Manager, then Deputy General
Manager, and eventually as General Manager of the bank.
In these capacities, he handled strategies for new business
and branch development, management of risk assets portfolios, treasury
functions, strategic top-level corporate, multinationals and public
institutional relationships, among others.
He was named Executive Director of the bank in 2013 and put
in charge of Lagos and South-South Zones as well as strategic groups/business
units of the bank including Financial Control & Strategic Planning,
Treasury and Correspondent Groups, Human Resources Group, Oil and Gas Group,
and Credit Risk Management Group, etc. He was named Deputy Managing Director of
the bank in 2016.
Onyeagwu is on the board of Zenith Bank Ghana, Zenith
Pensions Custodian Limited, Zenith Nominees Limited and African Finance Corporation. He brings to his job strategic thinking,
inspirational leadership, energetic and entrepreneurial skills. He is married
with children.
By Damilare Famuyiwa
