By Aduragbemi Omiyale
The Group Chief Risk Officer of Ecobank Group, Mr Eric Odhiambo, has been elevated to the position of the Group Executive in charge of Corporate and Investment Banking.
The promotion of the Kenyan-born banker was a result of the retirement of Nigerian-born Mr Akin Dada, who clocked 60 and is in line with the group’s succession plan.
“Eric is a vastly knowledgeable banker with strong expertise in business development, credit structuring and understanding as well as risk management.
“He has immense capacity to ensure the realisation of the strategic goals of our Corporate & Investment Banking business in the areas of loans, trade finance, advisory services and cross-border payments.
“I have no doubt that the strong leadership that he exhibited as our Group Chief Risk Officer in the last four years, will be replicated in his new role,” the CEO of Ecobank Group, Mr Ade Ayeyemi, stated.
Mr Odhiambo joined the Ecobank Group in September 2017 as Group Chief Risk Officer after spending 14 years with Citigroup in various senior management roles including Head Risk Analysis and Remedial Management, Country Risk Manager, Regional Head of Risk Management in Africa and Turkey & the CIS.
He led various credit structuring and approvals from an Independent Risk point of view while also participating with deal teams from Corporate & Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, Project Finance, Derivative Structures and Trade Transaction Services in actualising transactions.
He provided continuous coaching and on-the-job training to Credit Officers across the businesses, reviewing and assigning credit limits and has served on various bank board positions as a non-executive director including his current role on the board of Ecobank Nigeria.
Mr Odhiambo is strongly focused on business development and brings a wealth of experience to the Corporate and Investment Banking segment of Ecobank. He also previously worked with Atlas Mara and with ABN AMRO Bank in Kenya, during his 30 years banking career.
The former occupier of the seat, Mr Dada, had over 30 years of banking experience in client coverage, strategic transaction initiation and advisory dialogues across various client segments, including the public sector, telecoms, FMCG and oil and gas.
He joined the Ecobank Group in 2017 after 26 years with Citigroup in various roles in Corporate & Investment Banking as Senior Transactor, Senior Relationship Banker and Business Development Manager. While at Citi, he handled a wide array of transactions in Loan Syndications, Project Finance, Corporate Finance and Advisory, and was Managing Director for Citigroup Cameroon.
“In the last five years with Ecobank, Akin has made very impactful contributions. His invaluable and varied experience over many years in corporate banking, as well as his broader knowledge of banking, credit and risk management, ideally positioned him to lead our Group Corporate and Investment Banking business.
“I thank Akin for his significant contributions and wish him a very happy and fruitful retirement,” Mr Ayeyemi also commented.
Modupe Gbadeyanka