FBN Holdings fires registrar, makes executive changes

FBN Holdings Plc, the holding company of First Bank Nigeria Limited, which in the past week has witnessed some rumblings arising from battles for corporate control, on Thursday said it had fired its registrar, and also made major executive changes.

FBN Holdings’ Board announced the sack of First Registrars and Investors Services Limited, one of its former subsidiaries, and replaced them with Meristem Registrars Limited, with effect from December 1, 2021.

This was contained in a letter written by the Bank group to the Nigeria Exchange Limited, dated October 28, 2021.

The Board also announced the appointment of Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo as its new Group Managing Director.

Mr. Okonkwo, the immediate-past Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank Plc, will assume office with effect from January 1, 2022, subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and the shareholders at the next Annual General Meeting of FBN Holdings,

Okonkwo will be taking over from Mr. U.K. Eke, who is retiring from the bank with effect from December 31, 2021, having served for two terms, FBN Holdings said. Board said it had accepted the notice of voluntary retirement of Mr. Eke.

The Board also approved the renewal of the appointments of Dr. Adesola Adeduntan and Mr. Gbenga Shobo as the Managing Director and Deputy Managing Director of FirstBank, respectively, for another term, according to the letter.

The Board of FBN Holdings Plc. approved the appointment of Mrs Tope Orhionsefe Omage as a Non- Executive Director of First Bank of Nigeria Limited by the Board of FirstBank, subject to the approval of the CBN.

FBN Holdings this week released the identities of the two largest individual shareholders in the Bank, which has led to a flurry of activities around Nigeria’s oldest bank.

It declared Mr.Tunde Hassan-Odukale as the single-largest shareholder, with 5.36 percent equity holding, followed by Olufemi (Femi) Otedola, who was ranked second, with a 5.07 percent stake in the Group.

Firing First Registrar, a former subsidiary of the Group, which is also speculated to be partly owned by Oba Otudeko, sends signals that the current Board may have suspected the Registrar of foul play or negligence in the attempted hostile take-over of FBN Holdings.

Feelers from the market indicate the Board may have been disappointed that the Registrar did not duly make notification to the Board of the increasing stake of a  shareholder, with the possible take-over objective.