Guaranty Trust Bank deputy MD, Cathy Echeozo retires

One of the things the Segun Agbaje-led management of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc would have to explain when they meeting shareholders and other stakeholders to give account of their stewardship for the year ended December 31, 2016, soon, is what led to the seemingly sudden “resignation of Mrs. Cathy Echeozo from the board.

In a letter through the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday evening, the board in a letter titled “notification of retirement of the deputy managing director,” the bank gave no reasons for the exit of Mrs. Echeozo who was named DMD in October 2011. 

The letter signed by Erhi Obebeduo, the Company Secretary, did not also state the effective date of the said retirement, an indication that is could be “with immediate effect.” Holder of a first degree in Accounting from the University of Nigeria and MBA from the University of Maryland, U.S, she joined GTBank in 1993 and was named Executive Director in March 2005 and was formerly ED and head of the bank’s Institutional Banking Division.

She also worked in the Treasury Management, Credit Management, Systems & Control and Institutional Banking Divisions. She was a member of the board’s Credit Committee. 

According to the statement dated Thursday, March 16, 2017, “during her term as executive director and deputy managing director, Mrs. Echeozo was responsible for the Corporate Bank Group and Institutional Banking Division, and contributed immensely to the business of the bank. 

“The board is deeply appreciative of Mrs. Echeozo, for her hardwork and contribution to the success of the bank and wishes her success in her future endeavours,” Obebeduo noted in the statement. 

It would be recalled that when Mrs. Echeozo was appointed DMD in 2011, a statement by the bank also appointed three new EDs namely: Wale Oyedeji, former Managing Director of GTBank (U.K) Ltd.; Demola Odeyemi, Chief Financial Officer and Head of Strategy and Mrs. Tola Omotola, Company Secretary and Legal Adviser. 

The statement said the trio “replaced” Jide Ogundare, Mrs Titi Osuntoki and Akin George-Taylor, said to have resigned voluntarily from the bank after putting in between 18 and 21 years.

[nigerianpilot]