Kenya’s Eric Odhiambo has been appointed executive director of Ecobank’s corporate and investment banking arm, while Nigeria’s Chinedu Ikwudinma is the new Group Chief Risk Officer.
Eric Odhiambo replaces Akin Dada, who recently retired at the age of 60. Prior to his appointment, Eric Odhiambo was the Group Chief Risk Officer since September 2017, when he joined Ecobank. Prior to that, he worked for 14 years at Citigroup, where he held various senior positions, including Head of Risk Analytics and Remediation, Head of Country Risk, Regional Head of Risk Management for Africa, Turkey and CIS. He has also served as Head of Credit. Eric Odhiambo has led various credit structuring and approvals from a risk perspective, while assisting in the execution of transactions with the Corporate and Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, Project Finance, Derivatives structures and Trade Transaction Services teams.
Eric Odhiambo provided coaching and on-the-job training to credit officers in all divisions, reviewing and setting credit limits. He has served on various bank boards as a non-executive director. He is currently a non-executive director on the board of Ecobank Nigeria.
Eric Odhiambo, it is explained, is very business development oriented and brings a wealth of experience to the Corporate and Investment Banking arm. In his 30-year banking career, he has also worked at Atlas Mara and ABN AMRO Bank in Kenya.
Chinedu Ikwudinma, Risk Management Specialist
Chinedu Ikwudinma, the Group’s Executive Director and Chief Risk Officer, succeeds Eric Odhiambo in this role, following the latter’s appointment as Executive Director of the Corporate and Investment Bank. Prior to his appointment as Chief Risk Officer, Chinedu Ikwudinma was Ecobank Group’s Chief Credit Officer since June 2019.
Prior to joining Ecobank Group, Chinedu Ikwudinma was the Managing Director of Nova Merchant Bank in Nigeria from September 2017 to August 2018. He also spent over 26 years at Citigroup, where he held various senior positions in commercial banking, corporate and investment banking and risk management. He was Managing Director of Citibank Uganda and Head of Corporate Banking at Citibank Zambia.
A risk management specialist, Chinedu Ikwudinma is said to have extensive training and experience as a credit officer. He has covered the entire spectrum of the risk management function, encompassing products as diverse as corporate finance, project finance, trade finance, product structures, derivatives, working capital and core banking and financing products. He has been involved in risk management and credit approvals for 25 years.
Chinedu Ikwudinma holds a Master’s degree in Structural Engineering and a Master of Business Administration (MBA), both from the University of Lagos, Nigeria.
Leading Pan-African Banking Group
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (‘ETI’) is the parent company of the Ecobank Group, the leading independent pan-African banking group. The Ecobank Group employs approximately 14,000 people serving over 29 million customers in retail, commercial and corporate banking in 33 African countries. The Group has a banking license in France and has representative offices in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Johannesburg, South Africa; Beijing, China; London, United Kingdom; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Group offers a full range of banking products, services and solutions including bank and deposit accounts, cash management, advisory, trading, securities and wealth management. ETI is listed on several stock exchanges, namely the Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos, the Ghana Stock Exchange in Accra and the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières in Abidjan.
