Access Holdings Plc has announced the resignation of Roosevelt Ogbonna from its board of directors, as the financial group moves to comply with new governance rules issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The company disclosed this in a notice to the Nigerian Exchange on Tuesday signed by Company Secretary Sunday Ekwochi.
It said Mr Ogbonna stepped down as a non-executive director after three and a half years of service.
His resignation, it explained, was to align with the CBN’s Corporate Governance Guidelines for Financial Holding Companies in Nigeria, 2023, which stipulate a maximum of nine directors on the board of a financial holding company.
“His resignation allows the Company to comply with the Central Bank of Nigeria corporate Governance Guidelines for Financial Holding Companies in Nigeria, 202: which stipulates a maximum of nine 9) directors for the Board of a Financial Holding Company.”
Mr Ogbonna, however, will continue to serve as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Access Bank Plc, the flagship subsidiary of Access Holdings.
He was appointed to lead the bank in May 2022, succeeding Herbert Wigwe, who became group chief executive of Access Holdings before his death in a helicopter crash in California earlier this year.
He was appointed after nearly two decades with the lender, rising from executive director in 2013 to deputy managing director in 2017. He joined Access in 2002 from Guaranty Trust Bank.
A chartered accountant and CFA holder, Mr Ogbonna is also an honorary member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.
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He holds degrees from the University of Nigeria, King’s College London, and IMD Business School in Switzerland, along with executive training at Harvard and Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in China. The Institute of International Finance named him a Future Global Leader in 2015.
He sits on the boards of Access Bank’s UK and South Africa subsidiaries and represents the lender at Africa Finance Corporation and CSCS Plc.
Access Holdings, has been restructuring its governance and operations described Mr Ogbonna’s contributions to the board as “outstanding,” noting that his role had been central to the group’s growth in recent years.
