FSDH Merchant Bank Limited has appointed a new Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer in the person of Mrs Bukola Smith who would be taking over the reins of the financial institution from Mrs Hamda Ambah due to retire from the bank on April 27, 2021.
Smith, whose appointment has been approved by the Central Bank of Nigeria, has MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK, and BSc. Economics from the University of Lagos.
A fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, and an Associate Member, Certified Institute of Pensions (Nigeria), she brings 28 years of progressive experience in the industry with a track record of strategic execution and leadership.
She established a track record at FCMB where she previously worked. Aside from being appointed Executive Director, Business Development at First City Monument Bank (FCMB) in 2017, she held several other leadership positions since she joined FCMB in 2006.
As business development director, she had oversight on FCMB’s 200 branches across the country while at the same time managing other divisions such as public sector, business banking, agriculture and transaction banking.
Her other feats at FCMB include setting up FCMB Women in Business Desk (branded SheVentures) which supports female entrepreneurs, FCMB Trustees and FCMB Custody, both of which broke even in the first year of operations and are making inroads in the asset management field.
More importantly, in just three years, the bank’s SME-focused team moved up the ladder from fifth to the first position in the industry in 2019 per KPMG Customer Service Report 2020.
Smith is coming with a rich profile as a banker extraordinaire. The Board of FSDH Merchant Bank has expressed confidence in Smith’s capability to “take the bank to even greater heights.”
