Content area
A seasoned banker and chartered accountant with over 30 years diverse management and operational experience, Stephen Olabisi Onasanya is a highly respected and personable executive who has established a reputation at FirstBank for solid performance and sound judgment. As GMD/CEO, he has pledged his commitment to continue the momentum of the Bank's ongoing growth and modernisation plans. In 2015, under Onasanya's distinguished leadership, FirstBank was named the "The Best Bank Brand in Nigeria" by the globally renowned "The Banker Magazine" of the Financial Times Group, and the "Best Retail Bank in Nigeria" by the Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards. Both awards are for the fourth consecutive time. Onasanya's remarkable leadership has sustained the Bank's unparalled reputation for leadership, strength, and stability. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. He is also an Associate Member of the Nigerian Institute of Taxation.
GMD/CEO, First Bank of Nigeria Limited
Mr. Stephen Olabisi Onasanya until his appointment as Group Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer was Executive Director, Banking Operations & Services. Prior to this, he was Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of First Pension Custodian Nigeria Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of FirstBank, where he developed initiatives that drove best practices in the nation's pension custody industry.
A seasoned banker and chartered accountant with over 30 years diverse management and operational experience, Bisi is a highly respected and personable executive who has established a reputation at FirstBank for solid performance and sound judgment. As GMD/ CEO, he has pledged his commitment to continue the momentum of the Bank's ongoing growth and modernisation plans.
Bisi commenced his banking career as a Senior Accountant with Wema Bank in 1985. He joined FirstBank in 1994 and held several positions, including Group Head, Finance and Performance Management. As Coordinator of the Bank's Century 2 Enterprise Transformation Project in 2004, Bisi managed what is perhaps acknowledged today as the most critical phase of the Bank's early transformation, to ensure continuous competitiveness. He maintained this coordinating role as Executive Director, Banking Operations & Services until his appointment as GMD/ CEO in 2009. Bisi Onasanya championed several initiatives to position FirstBank as a leading financial services group in Sub-Saharan Africa whilst promoting the growth of the African Financial Services Industry at large.
In 2009, he launched FirstContact, the 24/7 multi-lingual integrated and interactive customer service contact centre, a key component of FirstBank's service delivery transformation, which revolutionized customer feedback processes; FirstServe, the Centralised Processing Centre, a dedicated backend processing centre, drastically minimising transaction times and standardising service delivery.
He established the FBN Microfinance Bank which became the first microfinance bank in Nigeria to issue debit cards which can be used on all ATMs and make online purchases The bank was also the first microfinance bank to implement use of biometrics POS terminals for online and real time transactions.
In 2010, FirstBank became the first organization in Nigeria to be granted notable international standardization certifications: The prestigious Information Security Management Systems (ISMS)-ISO/ IEC27001:2005 certification, which is the world's highest accreditation for information protection and security and the BS25999 Business Continuity Management System Certification, both from the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), following rigorous certification processes by the British Standards Institution (BSI), a leading organization in the field of auditing management systems and processes.
In 2011, Bisi established the FBN Life Assurance Limited and facilitated the acquisition of a new subsidiary, Bank International de Credit (BIC), in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), extending the Bank's international expansion to the central African region in line with the bank's strategic focus to serve markets with significant potential. The FirstBank Representative Office in Abu Dhabi, UAE was also estabished.
FirstBank also launched the first Biometric ATM in Nigeria, first Cash Deposit ATM in Nigeria and consolidated its official presence on 5 (five) social media platforms: Facebook(www.facebook. com/firstbankofnigeria), Twitter (www.twitter.com/ firstbankngr), YouTube (www.youtube.com/ firstbankngr),Flickr and Slideshare.
The famous and prestigious Did You Know campaign and the FirstBank Impact Series on thought leadership, policy influencing initiatives and financial inclusion were launched in 2011. In the same year, the Bank was named "Nigeria's Number One Banking Brand" by Brand Finance Top 500 Banking Brands and the "Most Innovative Bank in Africa" by the African Banker, attesting to the Bank's forward-thinking approach.
In 2012, Bisi championed the launch of FirstAcademy, an affiliate of Global Association of Corporate Universities & Academics (G-ACUA), and the World Institute of Action Learning (WIAL) to support learning culture among the Bank's staff, attract the best minds within the industry and build a talent hub of leaders whilst promoting competence, development, knowledge management and workplace culture change.
In 2013, Bisi strengthened FirstBank's operational processes to comply with international best practices through the successful upgrade of the Bank's operational processes to the world class Finacle 10 banking application on June 10, 2013. The Bank completed the acquisition of ICB assets in Guinea, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Ghana in November 2013 as part of an on-going pan-African expansion programme and FBN Micro Finance Bank Limited converted from state to national licensed microfinance bank.
In 2014, Bisi led the launch of FBN Holdings Pic Group Corporate Identity/Brand Refresh in commemoration of FirstBank's 120 years anniversary and to renew an enduring promise to stakeholders to deliver value and excellence to all.
In 2015, under Bisi's distinguished leadership, FirstBank was named the "The Best Bank Brand in Nigeria" by the globally renowned "The Banker Magazine" of the Financial Times Group, and the "Best Retail Bank in Nigeria" by the Asian Banker International Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards. Both awards are for the fourth consecutive time.
Bisi's remarkable leadership has sustained the Bank's unparalled reputation for leadership, strength, and stability. He is a Fellow ofthe Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. He is also an Associate Member of the Nigerian Institute of Taxation. Bisi is Chairman, Kakawa Discount House Limited and Unified Payment Services Limited. He is a Director of FBN Bank (UK) Limited, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Pic and Africa Finance Corporation, and has served as a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers' Sub-Committee on Fiscal & Monetary Policies, and also on the Presidential Committee on Reduction of Interest Rates.
Copyright IC Publications, Inc. First Quarter 2016