First Bank Confirms Alebiosu’s Appointment As MD/CEO

The Board of FirstBank has approved the appointment of Mr Olusegun Alebiosu, currently Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive, as the Managing Director and Chief Executive, FirstBank Group. Also, Executive Director, Treasury, and International Banking, Ini Ebong, has been named as Deputy Managing Director while  Mr Omotunde Alao-Olaifa has been appointed as Non-Executive Director.

The appointments which became effective on Wednesday, 19 June 2024 is subject to regulatory approvals.

He was until his appointment, Alebiosu was  the Acting Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer since April 2024.  He was previously Executive Director, Chief Risk Officer, and Executive Compliance Officer from January 2022 until 20 April 2024. Prior to that appointment, he was the Group Executive/ Chief Risk Officer, a position he held since 2016.

He brings to the Executive Management of FirstBank over 28 years’ experience in the banking and financial services industry with cross-functional exposure to Credit risk management, financial planning and control, Credit and marketing, Trade, Corporate and commercial banking, Agriculture financing, Oil and Gas, Transportation (including Aviation and Shipping) and Project financing.

Alebiosu commenced his professional career in 1991 with Oceanic Bank Plc. (now EcoBank Plc.) and prior to joining FirstBank in 2016 served as Chief Risk Officer at Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, Chief Credit Risk Officer at African Development Bank Group and Group Head, Credit Policy & Deputy Chief Credit Risk Officer at United Bank for Africa Plc.

Prior to being appointed as DMD,  Ini Ebong was Executive Director, Treasury, and International Banking since January 2022. He was previously the Group Executive, Treasury and International Banking, a position he held since 2016 after serving as the Bank’s Treasurer from 2011 to 2016.

Ini brings to the Executive Management of FirstBank almost 30 years of extensive banking experience working through a wide variety of roles covering Treasury, Investment banking, Finance and Banking Operations.

Before joining FirstBank, he was the Head of African Fixed Income and Local Markets Trading, Renaissance Securities Nigeria Limited, the Nigerian registered subsidiary of Renaissance Capital. He also worked with Citigroup for 14 years as Country Treasurer and Sales and Trading Busines Head.

Ini has a passion for market development and has worked actively to drive change and internationalisation of the Nigerian financial markets: foreign exchange, fixed income, and securities. He has worked closely with regulatory bodies such as the CBN and DMO in assisting with the development of fresh monetary and foreign exchange policies, to broaden and deepen markets and open them up to international practices. At various times he has facilitated and delivered courses and seminars on a wide variety of subjects covering Money Markets, Securities and Foreign exchange trading and market risk management subjects to regulators, corporate customers, banks, and market participants.

Omotunde Alao-Olaifa was appointed a Non-Executive Director on the Board of First Bank of Nigeria Limited in June 2024. He brings to the Board extensive experience cutting across the Corporate Finance spectrum, including Capital Raising, Deal Structuring, Debt Restructuring, Acquisition Planning, Project Financing and Asset Management.

He is currently the Group Chief Financial Officer/Strategy & Principal Investment at Leadway Holdings with responsibilities covering Strategy, Corporate Finance and Principal Investment across the group and geographies. He also sits on the Boards of C&I Leasing Plc and Leadway Pensure PFA.

He had previously worked with Lionstone Group as an Associate, Investment Banking and Fidelity Bank Plc as an Assistant Manager in the Corporate Banking division, where he managed blue chip clients.

Tunde holds a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Nigeria’s premier University, the University of Ibadan and a Master’s in Business Administration (Finance and Strategy) from Lagos Business School, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos. He has attended the Senior Executive Programmes at both Harvard Business School, United States and London Business School, United Kingdom. He is a member of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Nigeria.