First Bank Appoints Olusegun Alebiosu As New MD/CEO

First Bank Nigeria Holdings has appointed Mr. Olusegun Alebiosu as the acting managing director of First Bank of Nigeria.

In a full notification of appointment sent to the Nigeria Exchange Limited on Sunday by FBN Holdings Plc, following the immediate resignation of its erstwhile CEO, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, the board of directors of the holdings settled for Alebiosu to steer the ship of the 130 year-old institution.

The full notification reads:

“In accordance with Rulebook of The Exchange (Issuers’ Rules), we hereby notify Nigerian Exchange Limited and the investing public of the appointment of Mr. Olusegun Alebiosu as the Acting Chief Executive Officer of our flagship subsidiary, First Bank of Nigeria Limited (“FirstBank”).

“Following the resignation of the Managing Director/CEO of FirstBank, Dr. Adesola Adeduntan, the Board of Directors has appointed Olusegun Alebiosu acting CEO of the 130-year-old institution.

“The appointment takes effect immediately and is subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

“Alebiosu who as Executive Director / Chief Risk Officer jointly led the transformation of FirstBank over the past 8 years, as an integral member of the team under the previous CEO’s leadership is well-placed to deliver on the bank’s strategic objectives. Alebiosu joined FirstBank in 2016 and has over three decades of banking experience.

“The Board of Directors expressed gratitude to Adeduntan for his exemplary leadership in the last nine years during which he superintended the transformation and growth of the Bank and wish him well in his future endeavors.”

Alebiosu has been the bank’s executive director/chief risk officer since 2022.

He has been in the bank for nearly three decades, with expertise in credit marketing, trade, corporate and commercial banking, and credit risk management among others.

Alebiosu takes the crown from Adeduntan, who gave up the role abruptly on Saturday even though he was due to complete his tenure in December.

The decision to appoint Alebiosu was reached on Sunday after a Saturday board meeting of the bank could not resolve the controversy surrounding Adeduntan’s resignation.

Alebiosu has core competence also in oil & gas, project financing, agriculture, shipping and aviation.

He completed his Bachelors in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management at the University of Lagos in 1990 after which he obtained a Masters in International Law and Diplomacy from the institution in 1997.

The new CEO started as a graduate at the defunct Oceanic Bank in 1991.

From 2006 to 2011, he served as the group head of credit policy and product programmes at the United Bank for Africa. He would later fill the role of chief credit risk officer at the continental development finance institution, African Development Bank, in 2011.

At Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, where he served until 2015, he similarly led the company’s risk management unit.

An alumnus of Harvard Kennedy School of Governance, Alebiosu also holds a Master of Science degree in Development Studies from the London School of Economics.

He has been a chartered accountant for over two decades and now enjoys the status of fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.

He is an associate of the Nigeria Institute of Management, a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and a member of the Nigeria Institute of International Affairs.