By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) Monday said it has set up a committee to seek new board members for the bank.
A statement from the bank and made available to InvestAdvocate said Gervais Djondo and Philip Asiodu, two (2) former board chairmen of the pan-African lender are amongst the committee.
Others are two (2) representatives of the current board and three shareholder representatives (names withheld).
According to ETI, the committee has been established as part of the detailed 51 point governance action plan agreed by shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) held at Ecobank’s pan African Centre in Lomé on Monday March 03, 2014.
The pan-African bank said the committee will be assisted by an external search firm.
‘’The move to reconstitute the Board at Ecobank Transnational Incorporated follows recommendations made by West African regulators of the stock exchanges where Ecobank is listed as well as from a report by the Global Board Centre of the renowned Swiss business school, the International Institute for Management Development (IMD). The IMD report by their Global Board Center followed a review of ETI’s corporate governance, including the size and constitution of the board, its procedures for managing related party transactions as well as its committee structures and incentive policies,’’ the statement said.
The statement further affirmed that the search committee will recommend potential board members to the shareholders of the pan-African lender at their Annual General Meeting (AGM), to be held in June.
Shareholders of the bank at their March 03, 2014 EGM agreed to limit the size of the board to a maximum of 15 people. ‘’It will comprise representatives of both majority and minority shareholders; executives and independent directors. In addition the reconstituted board will reflect the geographical spread of ETI as well as a more balanced gender and professional mix,’’ the bank said.
