…account for over 30% of MD positions
BY KENNETH EZE
July 2021 has a special place in the history of banking in Nigeria.
It is the month that deposit money banks in Nigeria took a bold step towards embracing gender-equality at the highest level with two of them appointing female managing directors.
The Guaranty Trust Holding Company, while unveiling its new Afrocentric structure, announced the appointment of a female, Miriam Olusanya, as managing director for the commercial banking arm of the business, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited.
Olusanya is taking over from Segun Agbaje who is stepping up to lead the new group, as CEO.
Almost simultaneously, the Board of Directors of FCMB Group Plc, unveiled Yemisi Edun as the managing director of First City Monument Bank Limited, to replace Adam Nuru, who had been on vacation since 2020, while Edu held forth in his place.
The appointments bring to eight the number of females occupying managing director positions in deposit money banks in Nigeria.
Others include Ireti Samuel-Ogbu, Chief Executive Officer, Citibank Nigeria Limited; Oluwatomi Somefun, Managing Director, Unity Bank Plc; Halima Buba, Managing Director, SunTrust Bank Nigeria Limited; Bukola Smith, CEO, FSDH Merchant Bank; Kafilat Araoye, Loftus Bank; and Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, Managing Director, Fidelity Bank Plc.
Watchers, in lauding the development, observed that, that was probably the first time in the history of banking in Nigeria that this number of women found themselves in such high positions at any single time.
Onyeali-Ikpe was among the first to felicitate her colleagues for their arrival at top leadership in banking.
“I congratulate my fellow CEOs, Olusanya Miriam of GTBank and Yemisi Edun of First City Monument Bank Limited on their appointments,” she said.
She took to LinkedIn to share her delight at the development.
In what would appear like a celebration of womanhood, she highlighted the significance of gender on their appointments, and assured that they would redefine the financial landscape with the force of example so as to hold the light for other ladies to scale to the top.
Onyeali-Ikpe stated, “I am excited at the possibilities of great change our appointments hold. According to Diane Meriechild, ‘A woman is full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform.’ We will redefine the financial landscape and through the force of example, encourage other young ladies to see that the impossible is the untried.”
In what sounded like a signal of intent that ‘the ladies are coming,’ she described their appointments as the future the banking world in Nigeria had waited for, and expressed the hope that it would lead to more glass ceilings being shattered by younger ladies.
“This is the future we have waited for. More glass ceilings to be shattered. Bring it on,” she added.
Watchers agree that the emergence of these women can precipitate great change and transform the fortunes of, not only fellow female employees in the sector, but create more wealth for investors and encourage other financial institutions to elevate women to similar positions.
María Fernanda Espinosa, an Ecuadorian politician and diplomat, was the President of the United Nations General Assembly for the 73rd session.
“Women in government are committed to a more equal distribution of valuable societal resources,” she said.
One way that these favoured women can create the path for others of the same gender to climb to similar positions would be by ensuring more equal distribution of resources of the financial institutions that have been entrusted to their care.
Another way, as Espinosa pointed out, is strategic application of domestic leadership style and bipartisanship. Fortunately, research favours women to be more diplomatic as against men being autocratic.
Espinosa said, “Research has shown that women in government tend to work in more collaborative and bipartisan ways and employ a more democratic leadership style compared to men’s more autocratic style.
“Women are also more effective at building coalitions and reaching consensus.”
Building coalitions and reaching consensus are areas that the multitasking nature of women position them to naturally excel that any orgnisation being led by a woman can benefit from.
Available statistics indicate that Nigeria has an almost even balance of the population between males and females, which is also the trend with respect to the labour force.
Nigeria’s labour force of 50.7 million is almost evenly distributed as 25.6 million males and 25.1 million females.
With the loud cheer that greeted the emergence of these lady managing directors, it does appear that the banking sector had been gender-sensitive when it comes to filling the very top positions.
Little wonder, Esther Elueme, a human resources expert, said, “I am not a banker but your recent success and monumental milestones achieved by women across the banking sector has enlivened my hope in diligence.”
” had other regulatory agencies set standards like the CBN, it would have been more binding on the banks to conform and now that the women seem to have their feet firmly in the door, their performance, more than anything else, would be the determinant factor of the fate of the younger generation”
Elueme observed that two human attributes that must yield good returns were diligence and faithfulness.
Their expression of joy is widely shared, with observers wondering why the Central Bank of Nigeria, which issued a policy on the composition of board and management of banks in the country, had done little to enforce it.
PWC in a report on the ‘Impact of women on Nigeria’s economy,’ pointed out that the “CBN regulations mandate a minimum of 30% of females on boards of Nigerian commercial banks.”
The report was jointly signed by Andrew S. Nevin, Ph.D., Chief Economist & Partner West Africa Financial Services Leader, PWC, and Omomia Omosomi, Economist/Manager, PWC.
They averred that in Nigeria, where there was a CBN mandated regulation for the banking industry, there should be at least 30 per cent of women on the board of regulation, but that there was no enforcement of such regulations as only 30.7 per cent of banks adhered to the instruction.
In clear terms, 69.3 per cent of banks operating in Nigeria do not comply with this mandated regulation, yet the regulator did nothing to compel compliance.
It would appear that the blame cannot be on the CBN and the banks alone as other regulators merely allude to the issue of gender parity at deposit money banks in Nigeria.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Financial Reporting Council merely recommended that listed companies should consider gender in the selection of board members, and encouraged boards to set and be mindful of diversity goals, respectively.
The PWC report stated, “The SEC Code only recommends that publicly listed companies consider gender when selecting board members but does not have any specific gender-based rule or regulation.
“The Nigerian Code of Corporate Governance (CCG) by the FRC encourages corporate boards to set diversity goals and be mindful of them when filling board vacancies.”
Analysts posit that had other regulatory agencies set standards like the CBN, it would have been more binding on the banks to conform and now that the women seem to have their feet firmly in the door, their performance, more than anything else, would be the determinant factor of the fate of the younger generation of women in that sector.
In the face of the realities, the PWC report pointed out that female board members made up 19 per cent of the total board composition across the various sectors listed on the Stock Exchange.
And in what indicates that the banks did not totally ignore the CBN’s directive on board composition, the report added that “in absolute terms, the financial services sector accounted for the highest number of female board members (81 in total) compared to the other sectors.”
Relatively, the financial services segment is demonstrating more gender sensitivity at the top, than most other sectors listed on the Exchange.
Available data indicates, “Female management team members made up 23% of the total board member composition across the various sectors listed on the Stock Exchange.
The Conglomerate, Financial Services and Construction sectors had the largest composition of female board members with 27%, 25% and 25% respectively.”
Recall that Sarah Alade, a deputy governor at the CBN, acted as the governor of the bank after Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was suspended from the position by former President Goodluck Jonathan, before the appointment of Godwin Emefiele. That she didn’t get the government’s nod to continue was not due to poor performance.
There are other great women in top positions in the financial services sector, including Branka Mracajac, CEO, 9PSB; Eniola Osula, Ag Managing Director, Greenwich Securities Limited; Catherine Nwosu, Chief Operating Officer, Africa Prudential Plc, among several others.
