Late Tayo Aderinokun
A titan of modern Nigerian banking is gone. Group Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) Plc, Mr. Tayo Aderinokun, died in London Tuesday after a prolonged illness.
The Board of the GTBank had in April informed regulators and other stakeholders of the bank that Aderinokun had proceeded on a medical leave.
But barely two months after, the cold hands of death snatched away one of the finest bankers the country has ever produced.
GTBank yesterday said in statement: “With a deep sense of loss, but with gratitude to the Almighty God, we write to notify you of the passing on to eternal glory of our dearly beloved MD/CEO, Mr. Tayo Aderinokun. Aderinokun, who had been on Medical Leave, passed on this afternoon, Tuesday, June 14, 2011, in the UK.”
Shareholders were shell shocked on receiving the news of Aderinokun’s death, saying it was a big blow to the banking industry and the capital market in particular.
A shareholder activist and founding member of the Nigeria Shareholders Solidarity Association (NSSA), Alhaji Gbadebo Olatokunbo, said: “We have lost such an epitome of the new generation bankers. Nigerian has lost an illustrious son who was dedicated to service excellence. If older generation bankers were like Aderinokun, the industry would not have been run aground as we witnessed in the late 1980s. I sincerely condole with his family and the entire GTBank family.”
The NSSA National Coordinator, Sir Sunny Nwosu, said investors would miss Aderinokun a great deal.
“He was very investor-friendly and a workaholic. He worked hard to make sure that investors get the benefits of their investments. Despite the challenges brought by the banking reforms of the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2009, GTBank remained atop due to Aderinokun’s hard work and dedication. We at ISAN, would miss him greatly but we cannot question God. The only thing is to pray to God to grant him eternal rest and to give the family the fortitude to bear the loss,” Nwosu said.
The General Secretary of Zonal Shareholders Association Coordinating Committee, Mrs. Oludewa Thorpe, simply said: “It is sad. Really sad and so sad. He was a gentleman to the core. He placed GTBank in a position where it was able to stay above board in its dealings.”
Aderinokun, who clocked 57 years last May, held a first degree in Business Administration from the University of Lagos and an MBA with special concentration on International Business from the Graduate School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles.
His professional education includes Credit and Relationship Management training at the Chase Manhattan Bank Institute for International Banking, New York, USA (1982-1983). His professional working experience was gained working with several financial institutions beginning with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in Calabar, where he did his National Youth Service (1977-1978).
He worked with Chase Merchant Bank Nigeria Ltd (later renamed Continental Merchant Bank) from 1981 to 1988. He worked in Prime Merchant Bank Limited (1988 and 1989) as an Assistant General Manager rising to the position of Head of the Financial Services Division of the bank. In 1989, he set up a non-bank financial institution, First Marina Trust Limited, which he ran for a year.
Aderinokun co-founded GTBank in 1990 and served as Deputy Managing Director for 12 years between 1990 and 2002, after which he became the MD, a position he held until his passing on.
Through good leadership skills, very clear vision and strong character, he raised GTBank’s profile to a leading position in the Nigeria financial industry and abroad.
During his time as GMD of GTBank, the financial institution witnessed tremendous progress and growth and had emerged over the years as an industry leader, pacesetter of unique and progressive innovations in the banking industry. The bank is now easily acknowledged and recognised as one of the most profitable and professionally managed corporate institutions in Nigeria and has been the recipient of several awards for exemplary corporate governance practices and excellent customer service.
Between 2002 and 2010, GTBank won over 50 awards from various bodies across the world apart from impressive ratings it also got.
For instance, Agusto & Co (one of the foremost credit rating agencies in Nigeria) has reaffirmed the bank’s triple A (Aaa) risk rating every year for the last four years. GTBank is one of only two banks in Nigeria with such a rating.
In 2005, Fitch, one of the foremost international rating agencies assigned the Bank a double A minus (AA-) risk rating in recognition of its strong domestic franchise, good quality assets and sound earnings record. This is the best rating ever received by any Nigerian or West African-based bank.
Also, in 2006, Standard & Poor’s, another international rating agency assigned the Bank a double B minus (BB-) risk rating. The bank is the only Nigerian financial institution with such a rating, which is the same as the Agency’s Sovereign rating for Nigeria.
In 2009, Fitch, one of the foremost international rating agencies assigned the Bank a double A minus (AA-) risk rating in recognition of the its strong domestic franchise, good quality assets and sound earnings record.
In 2009, Standard & Poor’s International rating agency once again assigned the Bank a double B minus (BB-) risk rating. The bank is the only Nigerian financial institution with such a rating, which is the same as the Agency’s Sovereign rating for Nigeria.
GTBank has been given recognitions by organisations such as the NSE, THISDAY Newspapers, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Euromoney, Banker Magazine of London, African Investor among others. State governments including, Lagos and Jigawa, among others, have also recognised the contributions of the bank under Aderinokun as well through awards of excellence.
As an individual, Aderinokun was also the recipient of numerous awards as an acknowledgement of his sterling leadership role in the achievements of the Bank. The awards include Banker of the Year at the inaugural THISDAY Awards in 2006, Most Respected CEO by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2008 and ‘African Banker of the Year’ by the “African Banker” magazine in September 2009. The PEARL Awards Project recognised him as the Banker of the Year in 2010. He was also a recipient of the National Award of Member of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (MFR) and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Nigeria (FCIB).
Financially, GTBank witnessed a robust growth under Aderinokun and he ensured that shareholders were rewarded adequately with the introduction of interim and final dividend every year. GTBank has also been very generous with bonus issues over the years. In addition to dividends, shareholders got bonus issues in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.
In the past five years, GTBank’s financial performance recorded significant growth. Gross earnings rose from profit before tax from N15 billion in 2007 to N48 billion in 2010. Total assets soared from N486 billion in 2007 to N1.51 trillion in 2010.
The equity in GTBank is the highest priced in the banking sub sector. It closed at N15.93 per share yesterday.
When Aderinokun was asked the secret for the success of the bank in 2009, he said GTBank had always been a pioneering institution responsible for 90 per cent of all the innovations in Nigeria’s banking sector in the last 20 years.
According to him, GTBank was the first Nigerian bank to raise capital on the UK financial markets, one of the first to follow IFRS reporting standards and it launched mobile banking in Nigeria.
He had attributed this to the bank’s young staff.
“We have many young people working for us and I know young people like to experiment. The average age of our staff is below 30, and we like them to express themselves,” he said, adding that “we are not afraid of making mistakes. We know that out of 10 things you attempt, perhaps only four will succeed. But we are prepared to carry the losses because the benefits we gain from the four successes will make up for the disappointments. We are not reckless, but we do allow our people a relative amount of freedom to do things in new ways.”
Although he was not at the last Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank held in April 21, in his report to the shareholders titled: “Staying Ahead, Preserving the Brand”, Aderinokun told stakeholders that 2011 promises to be another excellent year for the bank as a financial institution of first choice in Nigeria and beyond.
“As we look towards the future, we are determined to re-create our business model anew, to re-invent our way of doing business, and focus with laser-like precision on customer service,” he declared.
************************************
Born:May 8, 1954 (age 57)
Education: Business Administration, University of Lagos; MBA, Graduate School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles,US.
Career: NYSC, CBN, Calabar, 1977-78; Credit and Relationship Manager, Chase Manhattan Bank Institute for International Banking, New York, 1982-83; Assistant General Manager, Prime Merchant Bank Ltd, 1988; Head of the Financial Services Division, Prime Merchant Bank Ltd, 1989; Founder, First Marina Trust Ltd, 1989-90; Deputy Managing Director, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, 1990-2002; MD/CEO, GTB, 2002-2011.
Awards: ‘Banker of the Year’ at the inaugural THISDAY Awards in 2006; Most Respected CEO by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2008; ‘African Banker of the Year’ by the African Banker magazine in September 2009; Member of the Federal Republic (MFR); and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Nigeria (FCIB).