THE board of First Bank on Saturday met at the bank’s headquarters over the sudden resignation of the Managing Director of the bank, Adesola Adeduntan.
Mr Adeduntan’s resignation comes eight months before he was due to retire from office when his tenure would have been completed.
“I have however decided to proceed on retirement with effect from 20 April 2024 to pursue other interests,” he said in a copy of his resignation letter.
Mr Adeduntan attended Saturday’s board meeting, expected to be his last as the MD of the bank, a senior official of the bank said.
According to the letter addressed to Tunde Hassan-Odukale, the bank’s board chairman, Adeduntan’s tenure ought to elapse on December 31, 2024.
However, he voluntarily decided to step down on April 20.
“As you are aware, my contract would be expiring on 31 December 2024 after which I would no longer be eligible for employment within the Bank having served as the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank for a record time of nine years,” Adeduntan said.
“During this period the Bank and its subsidiaries have undergone significant changes and broken new grounds. We have repositioned the institution as an enviable financial giant in Africa.
“I have however decided to proceed on retirement with effect from 20 April 2024 to pursue other interests.”
Furthermore, he expressed gratitude towards the Board of Directors of First Bank and FBN Holdings for the support he received from them during his tenure.
Adeduntan was appointed as CEO of First Bank in 2016.
Prior to his appointment, he served as the bank’s executive director and chief financial officer (CFO).
Before joining First Bank in July 2014, he was a director and the pioneer CFO/business manager of Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).
Adeduntan formerly worked as a senior vice-president and CFO at Citibank Nigeria Limited, as a senior manager in the financial services group of KPMG Professional Services, and as a manager at Arthur Andersen Nigeria.
Similarly, First Bank Holdings Plc canceled its extraordinary general meeting amidst the resignation of Adeduntan.
The bank had scheduled an Extraordinary meeting aimed at raising N300 billion capital, it disclosed in a filing on Friday.
FBN said, “the Extraordinary General Meeting of the members of FBN Holdings Plc, earlier scheduled to be held virtually on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, at 10 a.m. for the consideration and authorization of the Company to undertake a Capital raise of up to N300,000,000.00 and other ancillary matters is hereby cancelled.”
The decision is coming the same day the MD of the FBNH announced his retirement.
Adeduntan is one of the bank executives affected by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s tenure requirements.
As he inches closer to his retirement, Adeduntan, is getting set for a different kind of adventure. Having asserted his worth as an administrator and banker per excellence, the First Bank head is excited about the possibilities of life beyond the routine powerplay and tumult of the boardroom.
The very basic core of his excitement lies in his passion to embark on fresh adventures. For Adeduntan, the joy of life stirs in his encounters with new experiences, hence his knack for an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun, and for him to enjoy soothing, infinite experiences in the bosom of his beloved.
Approaching his eighth year as MD/CEO, Adeduntan acknowledges the positive impact that stability in leadership has had on FirstBank.
Prior to his tenure, the bank had a policy of limiting the MD/CEO’s term to two terms of three years without an option for renewal, which he believes contributed to the bank’s troubled years.
In early 2022, when his tenure was set to end, the central bank intervened and insisted that he remain at the helm.
This decision affirmed Adeduntan’s successes and allowed him to continue leading the bank for another three years of its transformation journey.
With the support of both the apex bank and its shareholders, Adeduntan has a strong foundation to drive the bank’s ongoing transformation.
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