Markets & Finance

Ecobank picks Kenyan managers in regional restructuring

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An Ecobank branch in Nairobi city centre. PHOTO | FILE

Pan-African lender Ecobank has announced new top management changes under a restructuring that will see five Kenyans—out of the six locals appointed—take regional positions.

Ecobank recently restructured the region into a hub combining eastern, southern and central Africa under one cluster headquartered in Westlands, Nairobi. This reduced the number of regional hubs across Africa from seven to four.

In the latest changes career banker Alice Kilonzo Zulu will be the managing director of Ecobank Rwanda while Raphael Onyango is the head of corporate banking, Ecobank Tanzania. Ms Zulu joined Ecobank in 2012 as a senior group manager, trade finance based in Kenya.

Mr Onyango on the other hand joined the lender in April this year from Standard Chartered Bank where he started his career as a graduate associate in 2001.

Those appointed to cluster roles in the expanded Central, East and South Africa portfolios include Robert Kola, the new regional head transaction services group (TSG) for Central, Eastern and Southern Africa (CESA). He previously served as the head of TSG Kenya.

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Alex Kibaara is set to be the CESA regional head for internal control. He has been the head of internal controls at Ecobank Kenya since June 2011, a position he has held since he joined from Citibank NA, Kenya. 

Another regional appointee is David Chebii Kibet as CESA regional head for early warning remedial and recovery (EWRR). Messrs Kola, Kibaara and Kibet will be based in Nairobi, the headquarters of the CESA office.

The bank meanwhile appointed Peter Kirichu, to relocate to Ecobank’s Paris representative office as a foreign exchange (FX) trader.  He previously worked at the Ecobank Kenya treasury department.

Ecobank Transnational CESA managing director Samuel Ashitey Adjei said the new appointments will help Ecobank improve its overall efficiency and operational excellence in line with its strategy.