Our Board of Directors

Our Bank’s Board of Directors is a Who is Who’s list of financial and management experts. The board is composed of a distinguished array of professionals with a combined wealth of experience of over 40 years.

Dr. Jonathan A.D. Long (Chairman)

Dr Long was Managing Director of the Bank between 1987 and 2005. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Managing Director of the Bank between June, 1985 and April, 1987. He holds Bachelors (1967) and Masters (1970) degrees from Balliol College and a Doctorate degree (1973) from St. Anthony’s College, both at Oxford University in the United Kingdom.

He has over twenty seven years corporate finance experience, working in merchant banking in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Nigeria. He began my working career with William & Glyn’s Bank Limited in 1973 and was appointed Manager, Corporate Finance, with Charterhouse Japhet Limited in London in 1976, before becoming General Manager of the bank’s Swiss investment management subsidiary, Charterhouse Japhet (Suisse) S.A in Geneva in 1979 and eventually became Assistant Director in 1981. He later established the operations of Standard Chartered Bank Plc in Geneva, Switzerland in 1982 before joining First City Merchant Bank Limited in 1985.

Over the last twenty two years, Dr Long has led numerous project teams advising the Nigerian Government, major multinational clients or large local corporate institutions on major financial transactions. He has also acted as project director on all the innovative assignments handled by FCMB Capital Markets. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Kakawa Discount House Limited.

Mr. Ladi Balogun (Managing Director)

Ladi holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom (1993) and an MBA from Harvard Business School (2000), United States of America. He has over 14 years experience in commercial and investment banking in Europe, United States of America and Africa.

He began his banking career in 1993 at Morgan Grenfell and Co. Limited, one of the UK’s most prestigious investment banks, which was later consolidated into the investment banking division of Deutsche Bank. While at Morgan Grenfell, he worked in the areas of risk management and corporate finance (debt origination). He was responsible for managing the bank’s trading and investment positions in debt instruments in Latin America and Eastern Europe, at a time of great volatility in both regions. As a corporate finance officer, he was part of a team that structured numerous complex debt deals running into several billions of dollars in Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Asian sub-continent. Subsequently he worked at Citibank in New York in the area of structured trade finance covering the CEEMEA region (Central and Eastern Europe Middle East and Africa) before returning to Nigeria as an Executive Assistant to the Chairman and Chief Executive in 1996.

He has worked in various areas of the Bank, including Treasury, Corporate Banking and Investment Banking. He was appointed an Executive Director in charge of the Institutional Banking Group (IBG) in 1997. His restructuring and business development efforts in IBG were largely responsible for the geometric growth in the Bank’s earnings between 1997 and 1999. In 2000, he was made Executive Director in charge of Strategy and Business Development and by 2001 became the Bank’s Deputy Managing Director. He was appointed the Managing Director of the Bank in 2005, upon the conclusion of the Bank’s successful initial public offer, the mergers with Cooperative Development Bank Plc and Nigerian-American Bank Limited, and the acquisition of Midas Bank Limited.

Ladi has received extensive training both locally and internationally, including attending a Citibank-sponsored Professional Development Programme as well as the Credit Course for Senior Bankers and the Advanced Credit Course for Senior Bankers at the Citibank School of Banking.

In addition to being the Managing Director of FCMB, he is also a director of the following companies: City Securities Limited; CSL Stockbrokers Limited, First City Asset Management Limited and Interswitch Nigeria Limited (Nigeria’s first national payment switch). He sits on the Advisory Committee of one of Nigeria’s leading private equity firms (SME Partnership). He is a volunteer speaker for two Non-Governmental Organisations in Nigeria focused on training and mentoring the youth and entrepreneurs, namely Fate Foundation and Junior Achievement Nigeria. He is also the chairman of the Otunba Tunwase Foundation (a charitable organisation established to improve the health and welfare of children in Nigeria). Only recently, he was appointed to the Working Committee established to define modalities for setting up the Ogun State Development Trust Fund.

Mr. Anurag Saxena (Chief Operating Officer)

Mr Saxena holds a BE from the Regional Institute of Technology, India (1987),  and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (1990). He has an International Investment Advisory Certificate and International Capital markets Qualification; he is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK.

He has over 17 years experience in all aspects of banking including sales, distribution, marketing, product development, strategy, IT and operations. He has worked with Barclays Bank (Jan 2006 till December, 2006), Standard Chartered Bank (1996 to 2005), Mashreq Bank (the largest and leading Private Bank in the UAE (1993 to 1996)) and Citigroup (1990 to 1993). He was Director, Strategic Initiatives and Innovation, Africa, Middle East and Indian Ocean as well as Head, Customer Solutions, Africa and Indian Ocean, in Barclays Bank.

Anurag also served in various capacities in Standard Chartered Bank including Head of Sales, Marketing and Quality, Africa and Gulf Region; Head of Sales and Marketing, Philippines; Head of Marketing, Taiwan; Head of Marketing, Middle East and South Asia. He was also Assistant Vice President, Investment and Liability Products, Mashreq Bank; and Territory Operations Manager, Middle East and Europe – NRI Business, Citigroup.

Anurag joined FCMB as COO in January, 2007 following the successful execution of a management services agreement between FCMB and Sabre Capital.

Mr. Henry Semenitari (Executive)

Mr Semenitari is an Executive Director, responsible for the Commercial Banking Division of the bank. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Chemical Engineering from University of Lagos (1987) and an MBA from University of Navarra (I.E.S.E.), Barcelona, Spain (2000).

He has over 19 years banking experience in various areas including commercial & retail banking, corporate banking, operations and internal control. At various times, he has worked for established banks such as Zenith Bank plc (1991 to 1992), Diamond Bank (1992 to 1996), United Bank for Africa plc (1996 to 2001) and Afribank plc (2003 to 2005).

He joined FCMB from Afribank in 2005, where he was responsible for developing the retail banking business across a network of over 150 branches. His recognized strengths are in business process re-engineering, enterprise management and integration of business processes with technology at product and responsibility accounting levels.

Mr. Maurice Phido (Executive)

Mr Phido is the Executive Director, responsible for the International Banking Division of the Bank. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Political Science from University of Lagos (1986) and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) (2006).

He has worked extensively in the financial services industry in areas including accounting, financial advisory and banking. He began his career with Arthur Andersen (now KPMG Professional Services) where he worked in the Audit and Business advisory Group from 1988 to1992. He joined Diamond Bank plc in 1992, where as Head, Corporate and Investment Banking, he was responsible for managing banking relationships with multinationals and structured indigenous companies before joining FCMB in 2005.

Mr. Godwin T. S. Adokpaye (Director)

Mr Adokpaye holds a 1959 B.A. Honours degree in Classics from the University of Ibadan. 

He worked with Mobil Oil Nigeria plc from 1959 becoming, first, District Manager, Benin, in 1961 and then, successively, Retail Sales Manager, Commercial Manager and Sales Manager between 1968 and 1972. He was appointed General Manager in 1972 and in 1974, he was made Executive Director, before finally retiring from an executive position in December 1984. He is on the board of a number of other companies.

He was appointed to the Board of the Bank in 1984 and is currently the Chairman of the Bank’s Audit Committee.

Alhaji I. M. Damcida (Director)

Alhaji Damcida is an accounting graduate of the Westminster College (1956) and North-West Polytechnic (1958) in England.

He commenced his working career as an accountant with the Ministry of Trade and Industry of the Government of Northern Region in 1959 and was transferred to the Federal Service in Lagos in 1962. He was a three time Permanent Secretary in three different ministries [Ministry of Trade (1966 to 1970), Ministry of Defense (1970 to 1975) and Ministry of Finance in 1975]. His business interests include banking and telecommunications and he is on the board of several blue chip companies in Nigeria.

Mr. Ladi Jadesimi (Director)

Mr Jadesimi graduated from Oxford University with M.A and LLB degrees and subsequently qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers and Lybrand in London, England.

On his return to Nigeria, he became, in succession, a Senior Executive of NAL Merchant Bank Limited and a partner of Arthur Andersen & Co. and is now an independent financial consultant.

Mr. Jadesimi was appointed to the Bank’s board in 1983.

Mr. Nigel Kenny (Director)

Mr Kenny is an alumnus of University of Surrey, from where he obtained a BSc. degree in physics (first class) in 1970 and a Doctorate in Theoretical Physics in 1973.

He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. He began his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1973 as an Audit Manager and eventually rose to become the Deputy Regional Audit Manager. He worked with Chase Manhattan Bank NA between 1982 and 1992, becoming the Vice president and Area Audit Manager for Europe, Middle East and Asia in 1989. He joined Standard Chartered Plc, London in 1992 where he rose to become the Group Executive Director for Finance in 1999, a position he held till he left in 2002.

He joined the Bank’s board in 2007.

Mr. Tope O. Lawani (Director)

Mr Lawani is a co-founder and Managing Director of Helios Investment Partners, an investment firm focused on making private equity investments in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Prior to co-founding Helios, he was a Principal at Texas Pacific Group (1996-2004), one of the world's leading global private equity firms. He holds a 1991 Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School in 1996.

He joined the Bank’s board in 2007.

Mr. Bismarck Rewane (Director)

Mr Rewane obtained a B.Sc. degree in Economics from the University of Ibadan in 1972 and became an Associate of The Institute of Bankers (England & Wales) in 1975.

He began his banking career with Barclays Bank, UK, in 1973 and moved to Barclays Bank of Nigeria in 1975, immediately after completing the Barclays Bank International Graduate Training Programme at West London University. He joined the First National Bank of Chicago in 1976 as Deputy Manager (Credit) and moved on to International Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited in 1981 where he rose to become a General Manager before leaving in 1996 to start his own company. He has served on the board of Lion Bank of Nigeria plc and Intercity Bank of Nigeria Limited. He currently sits on the boards of Top Feeds Nigeria Limited and Delta Packaging Nigeria Limited. An outstanding scholar, Mr. Rewane has addressed many professional and business gatherings on subjects such as foreign exchange management, liability management in a deregulated economy, tools of money market analysis and techniques of investment in public debt instrument.

He joined the Bank’s Board in 2002 and is the Managing Director/Chief Executive of Financial Derivatives Company Limited.

Dr. John Udofa (Director)

Dr Udofa holds a 1980 HND in Accounting from The Polytechnic, Calabar, an MBA from the University of Ibadan (1990) and a doctorate degree from St. Clement’s University, United States of America (2004).

He started his working career with Benue Agricultural Development Corporation in 1980 as an accountant. He moved on to Icon Limited (an IFC and JP Morgan sponsored merchant bank) in 1981 and worked in the International Operations, Area Office Operations, Treasury and Financial Services, Credit and Marketing Departments till 1992 when he left for Cooperative Development Bank plc. Whilst at Cooperative Development Bank plc, he worked in the Treasury and Financial Services department, International Banking Division and Corporate Banking group and the Corporate Finance/Credit Division before becoming the General Manager/Ag. Managing Director/Chief Executive in 2001. He was appointed Managing Director of the bank in 2002.

He joined board of FCMB in 2005.