By BABAJIDE KOMOLAFE

The Nigeria banking industry is set to enter another era with the appointment of new chief executives by four banks.   The banks are Access Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Skye Bank Plc.

In Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe took over as Managing Director/Chief Executive from Mr.  Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede, while in Fidelity Bank, Mr Nnamdi Okonkwo took over from Mr. Reginald Ihejiahi.

In Zenith Bank, the appointment of Mr. Godwin Emefiele as Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) paved the way for the appointment of Mr. Peter Amangbo as Managing Director, the third since the inception of the bank in 1990.

Skye Bank joined the trail last week, when it announced the appointment of Mr.  Timothy Oguntayo as successor to the incumbent Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Kehinde Durosinmi- Etti, who will retire by July 31st, 2014.

These changes have profound implications for the industry in many respects. First, the four new chief executive officers are assuming responsibility over a huge chunk of the banking industry.

Together, they will be overseeing N7.175 trillion banking assets, which represent 28 percent of the total assets of the industry in 2012.  Further, they are now in charge of N5.23 trillion of deposit, which represents 36 percent of the total deposit of the industry in 2012.

Finally, the four men will be responsible for loans and advances worth N2.774 trillion or 37 percent of the total loans and advances of the industry in 2012.  Furthermore two of these banks, namely Zenith Bank and Access Bank are among the top five banks in the industry.

The top five banks account for 51 percent of the total assets of the industry and 53 percent of total deposits in 2012.

The remaining two banks, Skye Bank and Fidelity Bank are among the tier two banks and are listed among the top ten banks in the country.  Thus these men are assuming enormous responsibilities with significant impact on depositors and activities in the industry.

The four new CEOs are however not novices to banking. Put together, they have over 60 years banking experience.

Herbert Wigwe for example has over 20 years experience in banking, which include 11 years as Deputy Managing Director of Access Bank. Prior to this, he   worked in Guaranty Trust Bank, where he rose to become Executive Director, corporate banking.

On his part, Okonkwo of Fidelity Bank was previously Executive Director in charge of South Directorate of the bank.

He has over 24 years experience. He spent a huge chunk of his career in UBA where he rose to become CEO of UBA Ghana, and later doubled as the Regional Chief Executive Officer for UBA West African Monetary Zone, with responsibility for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The Zenith Bank CEO designate, Peter Amangbo also has a banking experience spanning over two decades. He had been an Executive Director of the bank and its subsidiaries since 2005.

As an Executive Director of Zenith Bank for the last nine  years, Amangbo was responsible for the supervision of corporate and commercial banking, corporate finance, trade services and all the subsidiaries of the bank.

Timothy Oguntayo, the Skye Bank CEO designate also has in his kitty banking experience of over two decades. Prior to his appointment, Timothy was the bank’s Executive Director responsible for the supervision of Corporate and Investment Banking Group, Commercial Banking in the South – West Region and all the international banking subsidiaries of the bank.

He became an executive director of the bank and its subsidiaries in 2009, and was the pioneer MD/CEO of Skye Financial Services Limited (the investment banking arm of Skye Bank) before the bank’s divestment from it in 2012.

So, the four men have not only been tested and proven in terms of responsibilities, they have also  been running their banks from behind in various critical operations.

It is however pertinent to note that, though eminently qualified, their emergence is courtesy of the implementation of the tenure limit  of two tenure of five years each for banks’ CEOs and executive directors. But for this limit, these men would have remained and probably ended their career as executive directors.

But beyond this, the new CEOs are coming on board at a time of increased challenges and unprecedented changes in the industry.

The tight money supply policy of the CBN is the first of these challenges. With the CBN sterilising about N2 trillion of public sector and private sector deposits, the era of cheap deposit for banks might be gone forever.  In addition to this is the elimination or reduction of some fees.

These include the elimination of Commission on Turn Over (CoT), a major  source of cheap income for banks. These implied the four new helmsmen would have to work harder to sustain the profitability growth of their banks.

There is also the transition to a cashless economy, with all its challenges and opportunities for banks. Most importantly, this has introduced another dimension to the intense competition in the industry.

Now banks have to compete for income and fees via electronic payment channels, while also mindful of the risk of electronic fraud which has cost some banks millions of naira. In addition is the push for financial inclusion and the opportunities it offers for deposit attraction.

While they would be expected to grow the deposit base of their banks, they will also be faced with the challenge of deploying these deposits in an efficient manner that will enhance net interest income and minimise bad loans.

In this regard, the financing opportunities offered by the power sector reforms and infrastructure needs of the country will come handy for the new CEOs and their team. But they will have to compete for these financing opportunities too.

Then is the challenge of shareholders’ expectation for increased returns on their investment, and customers’ expectation of improved services.

The two are related. Their ability to meet shareholders’ expectation is determined by their ability to retain and attract new customers through quality and efficient service delivery.

All these challenges and expectations combined with the fierce competition in the industry makes the job of banks’ CEOs tasking and stressful. Lots of sleepless nights attending meetings, pursuing deals and strategising imposes lots of risks to the health of the average CEO in the banking industry, and this is always visible in their countenance.

Yet these new CEOs have to succeed. Fortunately, unlike their predecessors, they are not going to be faced with profound challenges like universal banking, consolidation, and the global financial crisis, which their predecessors had to contend with.  They are running banks that have withered these storms and have solid structures in place to compete favourably.

Depending on the emerging scenario and unforeseen changes in the industry, the appointment of these men, is not expected to affect the strategic focuses of their banks.

But given their career backgrounds, which indicate they are not men that romance failure, each of them is expected to come on board with hunger and passion to succeed and surpass the achievements of their predecessors.

This is the common factor which would greatly define how they drive their team, the innovations they would likely introduce and the way they would influence banking in the next five years.