Part of the mandate the bank’s shareholder (AMCON) gave was to run the bank as a sound financial institution and make it competitive. How were you able to achieve these?
I would say we have laid a good foundation. I make bold to say this because the first thing we did was to initiate a very strong corporate governance structure and we insisted that there must be strong policies in this regard. I am sure you know that thea level of regulation in the system has also gone up. This is the reason as small as we are, we have a 16-member Board of Directors. We have five Executive Directors in addition to the Managing Director and 10 Non-Executive Directors. The least among the non-executive directors was a former Executive Director in a bank. So, we brought credible people and put them on the Board so that the corporate governance structure will be strong to avoid any abuse of process and that is our strength. What that means is that everybody on the Board is an independent character. They are professional people. The Chairman of the Board, Mr. Emeka Onwuka, is the former Managing Director of Diamond Bank. He is a professional and disciplined banker. So, by this action the CBN has ensured that what happened in the past will not happen again. I always say that it is usually the abuse of process that allows banks to engage in unethical practices. In Enterprise bank now, proper and due process is followed in whatever we do. On that note, I can assure you that we have achieved our mandate to engender a strong and sound bank. However, we have not reached our destination yet. It is still work-in-progress. Have we made it competitive? Yes. Our 2012 result will attest to that. The bank is now in a position to attract very good staff from the industry, which was not the situation before we came on board.
Having made the bank this attractive and given its bridged status, do you now have investors for the bank? Are they foreign or local? Who are they and when is the transaction (sale of the bank) expected to be completed?
Ordinarily, I would have referred you to AMCON because our mandate did not include the sale of the bank. However, last weekend, on May 18, 2013 to be precise, the Corporation in a press statement said that there is a plan to commence the process leading to the sale of Enterprise Bank and the two other bridge banks. However, it is necessary to state that what is important to us is to continue to run the institution at full throttle. The announcement will not in any way affect the operations of the bank. The sale transaction is different from the business of running the bank, which is our responsibility.
What is your plan to move the bank forward?
What is important to us is to run the bank commercially, profitably and put all the structures on ground to ensure that business continues according to the mandate given to us by AMCON. We have a five-year plan, which we are implementing. This is because whoever steps in to buy Enterprise Bank at the end of the day is not coming to buy just our beautiful head office or structures. The investor is coming to buy the value that we have added along the line, which includes the quality of the customers that the bank has, the balance sheet, quality of staff and infrastructure among others. Our recent declaration of a profit of N11.3 billion after our first Annual General Meeting (AGM) is a further attestation to the value addition. Those are the positive things that any buyer or investor will want to see. We have returned the bank to profitability and are concentrating our attention on sustaining and even surpassing that achievement. So our plan for the bank going forward is to have a traditional institution where only five per cent of our customers will come to the bank. We want to be a traditional institution that is leveraging innovation and technology to deliver an efficient service to all customers and stakeholders and I believe we are on track to achieving that giving the right investments we have made since we came on board.
How far has the bank gone in terms of implementing the cashlite policy? What measure of success in terms of market share can you say the bank has achieved?
At Enterprise Bank, we are in the forefront of the cash-lite policy implementation. Ahead of the introduction of the cash limit policy meant to enhance the Nigerian payment system, reduce the use of cash in payments for goods and services and improve the use of Electronic Payment Systems, we were already doing everything possible to reduce the risk our customers go through in handling bulk cash. We had begun strengthening our Automated Teller Machines (ATM) platforms, Point of Service (POS) terminals, mobile and internet banking channels for use across the various outlets in and outside of Lagos State. Our internet banking channel, for instance, is to ensure our customers enjoy banking transactions from the comfort of their offices and homes anywhere they may be in the world. Like I said earlier, our desire is to cut down physical visits to our banking halls down to about five per cent. However, for the customers without access to Personal Computers (PCs), we also made it possible that their mobile phones will suffice as the Enterprise e-Mobile will enable them carry on the same banking transactions. Customers on this service can check their account balance, view the last five transactions, conduct intra and interbank transfers, purchase recharge cards for self and third parties and pay for DSTV, PHCN and mobile phone post-paid bills among other transactions.
Often times, it has been said that small and medium scale businesses are at the core of meaningful economic growth in economies as ours. However, the low impact of this segment on our economy has been blamed on a number of factors, such as the lack of funding from the banks. How has your bank fared in the area of credits to this sector?
I have continually reiterated our commitment towards the support of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the country, because we know as a bank that it is ‘critical’ to the development of Nigeria. Since we came on board, we realised the strategic importance of SMEs in fast-tracking the growth of the Nigerian economy and have since thrown our support to SMEs. We are a SMEs bank. Our name is Enterprise. More than 60 per cent of our book is towards SME and commercial. We have resolved strategically as a bank to be wholly a retail bank. We may opportunistically played in other areas. But we are a retail bank. We are putting more effort and emphasis in building capacity and understanding the workings of SMEs both from the providers and users of funds. It is the major challenge facing the SME space. Associations providing SMEs need to partner with banks such as Enterprise Bank.
How is your bank taking advantage of the positive policy thrust in agriculture in the last few years?
In our previous interactions with the media, we have always made it clear that Enterprise Bank is playing actively and will continue to explore every opportunity that are available in the agricultural sector of the economy. If you remember, the CBN disposition is to become a catalyst in economic growth through agricultural development among other key sectors of the economy. In that respect, the CBN initiated many interventions in the real sectors of the economy, particularly, in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. As a matter of fact, the CBN Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is very passionate about this. At Enterprise Bank, we have come to terms with the fact that once we as a nation have the right strategy in the agricultural sector funding, employment could be generated in an unprecedented manner, which means our teeming youth will be gainfully employed among other positive developments that will follow. Having said that, we do not need to remind anyone that the economies of major industrialised countries of the world such as the United States of America (USA), Asian and European countries are driven by agriculture. That is why Enterprise Bank is supporting agriculture and targeting the retail business. As a country too, we want to believe that we have no option than to give agriculture and other small businesses with easy ‘points-of-entry’ priority attention. The CBN is doing a lot in this regard but banks need to, as a matter of deliberate policy, build capacity in the area of agricultural financing, which is what we are doing. In our bank, everybody is aware today that for us to move our economy forward we have to pay a lot of attention to the agro-allied industries and from what we have seen; all hands are on deck to see that we achieve this mandate. Our retail and credit products have been designed to fund opportunities and sustain the agricultural sector.
Enterprise Bank posted a stellar performance for the 2012 financial year. Can tell us how and your team achieved this feat?
In summary, we posted a profit-before-tax (PBT) of N11.3billion in the year ended 2012 as against a loss of N5.2 billion in the five month period ended 2011; customer deposits rose from N62.6 billion in 2011 to N208.4billion in 2012 while total assets grew from N198.5 billion as at the end of 2011 to N261.1billion in 2012. The result came as a reassurance that our efforts since we came on board have not been in vain. We feel very happy with the result although there is always room for improvement. It shows what a great team can do. When we were appointed, if you remember, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) gave us a mandate to run the bank commercially and competitively. The 2012 result that you have seen is a direct result of that effort.
What has been your experience so far, given the fact that this is the first time you are running a bank as the CEO?
It has been challenging and rewarding at the same time. I count myself lucky because it is a big opportunity to help build a sound financial institution as well as serve the country. When the appointment came, I saw it as a national call in addition to the capping of a long professional banking career. Building a sound bank, particularly, from the structures of the old Spring Bank meant a lot, in that; a successful bank will impact positively on many areas of our economy. It will mean creating wealth for a happy and satisfied clientele through the provision of excellent financial and advisory services; providing employment as well as grooming first rate professionals. The contribution of a well run financial institution to society in terms of corporate social responsibility is also immense. I am equally humbled by the level of support I am receiving from my employers, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and the Board of Directors, which is made up of highly experienced and very successful professionals drawn from the academia, banking and insurance industries. I am very happy to have a dynamic Executive Management team that is dedicated and hardworking. So it is a collective effort, which makes things easy and the staff are charged. I must also acknowledge the continued patient, understanding and loyalty of our customers. Altogether, the experience has been wonderful, making the daily challenges exciting. But then one cannot forget God Almighty, who keeps providing us with life and the good health to carry on with the assignment? I count myself really privileged.
What kind of management style do you run? Are you democratic or autocratic?
From our first interaction with all staff when we assumed office nearly two years ago, we made it clear that this administration will run an open-door policy style of leadership. It was not just a rhetorical exercise; we backed it up with action in all our relationships with colleagues in the bank. The idea was to ensure that we run a flat structure that will make hierarchy as seamless as possible to enable people function very well. As a matter of fact, modern day leadership ideals do not encourage ‘them and us’ style of management. People function better in an environment where they see themselves as colleagues irrespective of grade, age, tribe, religion among others. In such an environment, it is easy for people to share informed knowledge that will help the organisation to grow. If you have observed, we address ourselves on first name bases so there is nothing like Oga, Mr. ‘A’ or Mrs. ‘B.’ To answer your question therefore, you will see that autocracy has no base in the bank.
Finally, what would you want to be remembered for when you leave the bank?
When we were appointed, AMCON’s directive was clear: to run the institution as a commercial entity. We were given the bank and a mandate to run it commercially and competitively and we think that that is what we have done in the last two years and what we will continue to do until the end of our assignment. We want to be remembered as the team that did not destroy value. We want to be remembered for systematically contributing our quota to the development of the economy by building a very strong and sound bank that creates value. But, most especially, we want to be remembered for positively touching the lives of people that we have met during our stewardship in the bank because without them, the story will not be complete. We want to create an ‘Enabling Bank.’
