Atlas Mara has appointed former Standard Chartered Bank Africa chief risk officer Benjamin Dabrah as managing director of its latest acquisition Finance Bank Zambia (FBZ).

The London-listed financial services provider said in a statement that FBZ and BancABC Zambia, which it also owns, would eventually be merged into one commercial entity, without giving a timeframe.

Before joining Standard Chartered Bank, Dabrah was managing director of Barclays Bank Ghana.

Atlas Mara Ltd this month completed the acquisition of Finance Bank Zambia Ltd and its subsidiaries for USD61 million in cash and 3.3 million Atlas Mara shares, plus a deferred contingent consideration of up to 1.3 million shares.

The sub-Sahara African financial services group had announced the acquisition back in November.

At the time, it said it would pay USD60 million in cash and up to 2.6 million in shares.

Finance Bank Zambia will be combined with Atlas Mara’s Zambian subsidiary African Banking Corporation Zambia Ltd, with proforma combined assets of around USD567 million as at December 31, 2015.

Atlas Mara said the merged bank will be one of the largest banks in terms of branch footprint in Zambia, with the number of branches increasing to 65 branches from 23 branches, a total of 176 ATMs and 23 agencies.

“The acquisition of FBZ is another important step in the execution of Atlas Mara’s strategy to build sub-Saharan Africa’s premier financial institution, in part, by becoming a scale participant in our countries of operation, which this transaction will achieve for us in Zambia,” Chief Executive John Vitalo said in a statement.

“We are enthusiastic about Zambia’s long-term prospects and our ability to play a leading role in the development of financial services in the country. While there is much to be done to fully implement our operational integration plans, we are excited about the opportunity afforded by a larger footprint in this important market for us,” he added.