Business

Troubled Fidelity Bank gets acting MD

Published

8 years ago

May 2, 2016

Following the arrest, detention and possible arraignment of the Managing Director of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission over the alleged $115m bribery

money distributed to electoral officers ahead of the 2015 general elections, the bank has named an Acting Managing Director in the person of Mohammed Lawal Balarabe.

Balarabe, whose appointment is subject to the approval of regulatory agencies, was until now the Executive Director, North of Fidelity Bank.

The board of directors of the bank made the announcement on Monday evening.

It would be recalled that Fidelity Bank had issued a statement earlier saying the $115 million transaction it had with a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke, was duly reported to regulatory agencies.

This claim was however debunked by a source within the EFCC, insisting that the $26 million cash handed over to the embattled bank MD was not reported to either the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN or the Financial Intelligence Unit.

The source also claimed that the miney was not used to open any account and such, there was no record of it anywhere.

Before his appointment as executive director, North, Balarabe was bank’s

executive director of commercial and consumer banking (north directorate).

He was once an executive director of Oceanic Bank International

Plc and had served as a deputy general manager and regional bank head of

north east of United Bank for Africa Plc.

Balarabe holds a bachelor of arts in accounting and finance from Nottingham Trent University (1986) and master of science in finance from the

University of Lagos (1995).

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