By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Pan-African lender, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) on Tuesday announced it has appointed Samuel Ashitey Adjei, managing director (MD) for the Group’s recently combined region, Central, Eastern, and Southern African (CESA) Countries, consisting of 18 subsidiaries.

Adjei currently the MD of Ecobank Ghana will step down in that position on the March 30, 2016, the pan-African lender said in an emailed statement.

According to Ecobank, Adjei is credited with the Bank’s outstanding performance in the last several years and assumed the position of MD for Ecobank Ghana in 2006, and has since built the Bank from eight (8) to 78 branches, and to an enviable position of the leading Bank in Ghana.

“Today, including the Ghana subsidiary, Sam Adjei runs the Group’s West African Monetary Zone member countries. A renowned banker in the Ghana banking industry, Sam has influenced policies and industry transformation, and is a well-respected banking professional across the market,” the regional lender added.

According to Ecobank, he started his banking career over 25 years ago and has spent the significant part of his career with the Bank. He joined Ecobank in 1990 and held several business leadership positions until his appointment as MD.

ETI affirmed that prior to the MD role, Adjei was deputy managing director for a year, and following that, was an executive director, and head of Corporate Banking & Treasury.

Ecobank Group CEO Ade Ayeyemi said, “over the last several years, and more so in the last 10 years, as Managing Director, Sam has taken our Ghana Subsidiary to unprecedented leadership heights, and has given us a franchise that is well positioned for continued and sustainable success. The last 10 years have seen this subsidiary grow exponentially. It has become the most successful and profitable subsidiary, both internally within the Ecobank Group, and externally in the Ghana banking industry. We are confident that Sam will exemplify this success in his new role as Regional Executive for our newly created CESA Region”.

Adjei said: “I have spent the last 25 years of my life, contributing to and helping to build this great institution of ours – Ecobank. But the real credit goes to the many great men and women alongside whom I have worked in Ecobank Ghana, the West African Monetary Zone region, and Ecobank overall. I have had the privilege of working with the best and brightest in the industry. Together, my leadership team, and the respective boards of directors, has been the pillar of success at Ecobank Ghana, and the West African Monetary Zone region. I leave my customers and my partners in the industry with a heavy heart, but I continue to believe that it is the overall franchise that has contributed to their respective journeys with Ecobank, and I wish them all well with continued success.”

The chairman of the Ecobank Ghana board, Terence Darko, said: “Sam is a modest and assiduous gentleman. It has been a pleasure to work and learn from him the business of banking. This is a well-earned promotion. On behalf of the Ecobank Ghana board, its Management team and staff, I would like to thank Sam for his commitment and outstanding leadership over the last ten years. We wish Sam continued success in his new and challenging assignment. There is no doubt that he will replicate this success in his new role.”

Darko indicated that in partnership with the Group’s head office, the board will immediately launch the process of selecting a successor to Adjei, a process that will conclude by the April 30, 2016.

ETI shares at the close of today’s trading on the Nigerian bourse inched up 061 percent to N14.75 per share from N14.66 per share recorded the previous session.

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By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE) – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Thursday announced that the Steering Committee of the Vienna 2 Initiative have set five (5) priorities for year 2014 after a meeting hosted and chaired by Raiffeisen Bank International in Vienna.

According to a Press Statement by Silvia Zucchini, Media Contact of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and made available to InvestAdvocate, one of the priorities is to tackle the critical problem of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) in Central, Eastern and South-eastern European Countries (CESEE) through a coordinated multiple -stakeholder effort.

The IMF said NPL levels in many countries in the CESEE region are quite high and still rising. ‘’This hinders credit growth and economic recovery. The Initiative will engage banks, regulators and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to create incentives for jump-starting a speedy and fair NPL resolution in 2014 and design joint country action plans in this area’’ the IMF said.

Another priority is to promote an all-inclusive Banking Union, with a special focus on non-EU members in the Southeastern European (SEE) region. ‘’Given the Euro area banks’ systemic importance in these countries, and with most countries on the path to EU membership already, it is critical that a coordination framework is developed between non-EU member SEE countries and the new European supervisory and resolution authorities,’’ the IMF said.

According to this initiative, the operationalisation of the Banking Union, including the Single Supervisory Mechanism, bank resolution, and backstop design, requires continuing attention for the EU non opt-in countries. ‘’The Vienna Initiative will actively advise and support this process, acknowledging meanwhile the importance of the speedy completion of the EU Banking Union,’’ the IMF affirmed.

The third priority area is to closely monitor deleveraging and credit trends in the CESEE region. The IMF affirmed that cross-border funding withdrawal, crisis legacy issues such as high non-performing loans (NPLs), and the prospect of tightening financing conditions from unwinding of unconventional monetary policy actions by advanced economy central banks can together present a considerable risk to credit recovery, and therefore growth, in the region.

‘’The Steering Committee will continue its close monitoring to spot any systemic risks at an early juncture through the Initiative’s flagship products the Deleveraging and Credit Monitor and the Bank Lending Survey,’’ the Fund said.

The fourth priority is to increase credit enhancement and risk mitigation to support new credit in the context of still high risk perception in the CESEE region.

The IMF says a working group has been formed to evaluate existing credit support schemes and to come up with concrete proposals for more effective credit enhancement schemes.

Lastly is the development of faster local funding sources in CESEE countries, moving away from a model dependent on cross-border financing which requires greater and fast diversification of funding sources.

‘’The development of local currency capital markets is of particular importance. Progress in this area must be accelerated to help credit and recovery and the IFIs participating in the Vienna Initiative can proactively support this process,’’ the IMF said.

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