Was this the way you planned your exit?
No, I didn't plan it this way. But, at the same time, about exiting at some point, yes, but not now.
I had planned to leave at 50, which is three years from now. However, this is coming at a time when what I wanted to achieve in 36 months, I now have to see if I can achieve them within seven months. Yes, there was a bit of suddenness in the announcement, but for Tony, the idea of leaving has always been there.
For UBA as an institution, the idea that the CEO will leave someday has been long decided, that is why we had planned for it. A lot of programmes were put in place for this.
We started two years ago by appointing the deputy managing directors under a governance and socialisation framework. We tried to let them through the end-to-end of our strategic businesses, to begin to groom them as successors. It was not political; we planned for it that at some point, the CEO must leave and some other person must take over.
Does that mean that one of them will automatically take over from you?
The board and committee have been meeting and the automatic nominees are the DMDs and after them, the executive directors, if the CBN fails to approve, the senior managers.
Judging by the board's quick response, one would think that UBA was privy to the CBN's decision. Was this the case?
No, we were not privy to the CBN's decision; the board of UBA believes that no one person is more important than the organisation. The board felt that we have key people such as our staff, customers, investors, regulators and that we must, not only because it is not only appropriate, but to reassure these key people that there is business continuity and there is business sustainability, and should not entertain any fear about our ability to produce good leadership, which is consistent with our corporate governance practice, to respond appropriately at all times, in the best interest of our stakeholders.
Talking about the CBN, do you have any personal issues about the CBN governor?
No, nothing. But you know that some Nigerians will always give the wrong interpretations to the best of intensions. Why will people say that? Maybe because we as a bank always identified with the CBN governor; so the issue of personal animosity does not come in.
For one, the governor and I were one time colleagues, and we worked very well together, we have mutual respect for each other.
Should the CBN's new policy affect CEOs like you that are still serving or will you leave it for expert interpretation?
I think we will leave that for the experts to interprete. But having said that, there is a context, which is that we have a new CBN governor, coming in at a time of global financial crisis, and I believe every new leader has a vision and ideas of how he will like to shape the industry.
There have been accusations that the CEOs were living larger than expected by the public, part of which plunged the industry into crisis. It this true?
I believe that the financial system is a highly regulated one, I think all players must comply with the rules of the game. Every sector has its own rules.
Given the extent of decay Mr. Sanusi claimed he discovered in the sector, would you say Mr. Soludo lived up to expectations?
It may be inappropriate for me to adjudge a regulator. But the current CBN governor was one of us, and upon assumption of office, he ordered for the stress test, put in place additional policies and framework to institute good corporate governance and proper risk management, among others.
There were two major facilities that UBA made under your tenure, the first is Transcorp and the second is Virgin Nigeria. What really happened?
First, I'd like to note that there is customer-banker confidentiality and I'd like to uphold that. But let me say that in the case of Transcorp, I can comment on it because it has been fully liquidated. And with Transcorp, we followed due process to advance acquisition finance. Not just us, but a consortium of big Nigerian banks. The loan was properly analysed, packaged and approved up to the board level of UBA before the facility was made available. There was no malpractice, we followed due process.
For Virgin Nigeria, again, we followed due process and it was done through UBA Asset Management Company.
In other words, UBA has no equity holding in Virgin Nigeria?
Contrary to speculations, UBA has no equity in Virgin Nigeria. It is UBA Asset Management Company that manages investment for companies; has between three and five per cent.
Why did UBA sack over 1,500 workers without paying them their benefits?
Less than 600 workers left UBA and they were paid all their entitlements in line with the contract engagement. In addition to that, they are still on the UBA pay role for the next six months.
Let us look at the issue of full disclosure; people are skeptical that the banks are still not telling the whole truth, otherwise there will not be so many job losses in the industry. What do you thnk?
Citibank, Bank of America, Meryl Lynch all laid off thousands of workers. When business is shrinking, everything has to shrink with it, if a bank is making profit and it is no longer making as much profit, there has to be structural changes to help it recover, and one of it is to prune down the workforce.
Are you also going to close down branches that are not doing well?
I did a memo concerning branches that a minimum bottom of five per cent of staff, we refresh every year. But last year the executive management did not uphold this, because we are not happy in letting people go. We do not delude ourselves about what or who we are, but we respond to issues appropriately. We did a clinical review of all our strategic business units, and how they can add more value.
We used three criteria to do our assessment - first is what is the contribution to our bottom line? Second, what is the strategic relevance to our business and the group? And the third one is the risk exposure.
Would you then say these strategies are part of the reasons UBA scaled through the stress audit, because many are surprised that UBA passed the test?
In terms of corporate governance, UBA is outstanding, in terms of risk management, we have laid down procedures. We have a chief risk officer; we have a chief compliance officer with 20 years of global experience. We have strong credit management process that is institutionalised and process-driven. We have a very strong board, and we had all of these long before risk management became the fad in the industry. Besides, we have put in place most of the risk management software to run a successful financial system.
Why is it difficult to grant loan to the small and medium enterprise sector in spite of efforts by the CBN to get banks to do so?
The current CBN governor is dealing with the root cause because it requires fundamental approach. We had a CEOs retreat in Enugu recently to look at the issues and these infrastructure challenges, having to generate your own power and water, and at the end of the day, there is hardly enough left to give out as loans to the SMEs, but like I said, these are being dealt with.
What will you say is really wrong with the Nigerian economy, because nothing just seems to work?
Let me speak to you as an economist. I have just said there are structural rigidities where certain things are not right. So we must go back to the basics, and a lot of this has to with infrastructure issues. The economy is an intricate web and so many things have happened.
What is the future for UBA, can it really compete with its peers locally and globally?
One of our major targets is to become a leading Nigerian bank, and to remain relevant in this market. Also, to play significantly in the African second tier market. In achieving this, it is a matter of having the right people, training them, strong governance policy, compliance to regulations in these countries and the totality of these factors will position you for competition.
One thing you must realise is that no one CEO can start and finish a process. What the CEO can do is to assemble the right team, and in partnership with the board articulate the right policies.
So then what legacies are you leaving behind for UBA?
I will say quality people. An average UBA person is confident, knowledgeable and goal getters. Confidence comes from achievements and self-empowerment is number one. The second is having a culture of value - humility, empathy and integrity. We embarked on a massive service of excellence, which is key to sustainability. Working with the board, we have put in place a framework and process to continuity, viability and sustainability, to have a UBA that is self-sustaining, with strong governance institution. By my retirement, the true test of my leadership has just begun and I'm sure UBA will outlive me.
You're retiring at 47, what do you hope to do? Is it not too early for retirement?
I have lived a very engaging and active life. It's been tough and I just hope that I will now have the time to take the children to school and what have you. I am fortunate in that I reached the pinnacle of my career early and so I would take it easy from now on.
Plans for retirement?
Well, if it had been in more advanced countries, people like me will be in high demand as speakers and academics but not here in our society. As I told my people yesterday at the board, I hope to get more involved with the UBA Academy as a lecturer and speaker and tell others what I have learnt and experienced. I also hope to be involved later with the Lagos Business School where I can impart knowledge into people because there is so much to share and we should bridge the gap between theories and experience on the field.
So I will spend more time with my family and teach, offering enlightenment to others sharing what I have seen.
We rarely see your wife, who is she and what about your children too?
Well, I'm married to a medical doctor and we have five children. (Points to her picture on the shelf) there she is and you can see her. The truth is that I'm a home person, I rarely go out. You're most likely to see me lying down with a bean bag watching movies with my children. I like my home and whenever I'm not at the office, you will see me at home. I enjoy reading also; I'm particularly fond of Jeffrey Archer's novels. I remarked to my wife the other day that it's been long we attended a wedding and she said yes, that's the kind of man I am; a very homely person.
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