HOW FIDELITY BANK MD IS TAKING THE BANK TO THE NEXT STAGE

“We are very pleased with the appointment of Nnamdi Okonkwo.  He has a combination of experience and intelligence.  I am confident that he will raise the institution to higher levels in the drive to accomplish our mission to make financial services easy and accessible to customers, while delivering good returns to all stakeholders.” These were the words of the immediate past CEO of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Reginald Ihejiah, while reacting to the announcement of Nnamdi Okonkwo as the new Managing Director and CEO of Fidelity Bank.

From the above quoted statement of Mr. Ihejiah, who is also a guru in the banking industry, it could be reasonably deduced that the present Managing Director of Fidelity Bank, Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo remains one of the few exceptional Nigerian MDs of banks both within and outside the country.

Mr. Okonkwo, a banker with over 23 years of experience, had been the Managing Director of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Ghana, between the period of 2006 and 2009. Similarly, between 2008 and 2009, he doubled as the Regional Chief Executive Officer for UBA West African Monetary Zone, with responsibility for Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. He later became Divisional Head for the Corporate Bank Directorate between 2009 and 2012. It is important to note that prior to this, he had previously worked between 1998 and 2000 as a Branch Senior Manager of the old FSB – the bank which later merged with another bank to form the contemporary Fidelity Bank.

While he was in Ghana, he used his skills to turn around the phase of UBA in Ghana positively.

In addition, between 2004 and 2005, Nnamdi had been General Manager in Standard Trust (which later became UBA) and later in 2005 was Regional Director of UBA in charge of branches in the FCT, Niger and Kogi States.

In 2012, he returned to Fidelity Bank as the Executive Director and his unique contributions and roles in enhancing the activities of the bank still linger in the memory of all. It is on record that Mr. Nnamdi Okonkwo happens to be the third CEO of Fidelity Bank after 25 years of operation, making it one of the banks with the most stable management in the industry.

Mr. Okonkwo assumed duties as Managing Director/CEO with effect from January 2014.Until his appointment as the MD/CEO he was the Executive Director in charge of South Directorate of the bank.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Agric Economics from the University of Benin and an MBA in Banking & Finance from Enugu State University.  He is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Programme of INSEAD Business School, Fontainebleau, France.  In addition, he has attended various business and management training locally and overseas, including Harvard Business School, Oxford, etc.

He is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Programme (AMP) of INSEAD and has also attended other senior-level programmes at world renowned institutions.