The Board of Directors of United Bank for Africa, Ghana Limited (UBA Ghana) has announced the appointment of Chris Ofikulu as the new Managing Director and CEO of UBA Ghana.

Mr Ofikulu replaces Olalekan Balogun, who had been the Managing Director/CEO of the Bank since May 2020.

He comes on board with over 30 years of banking experience of which 28 years has been in Business Development.

Prior to his appointment as MD/CEO of UBA Ghana, Mr Ofikulu was the UBA Group’s Directorate Head, Apapa 1 (Corporate) in Nigeria. 

Before joining UBA Group, he had worked in one of the Top Commercial Banks in Nigeria, Diamond Bank where he served in various capacities including Directorate Head in charge of the South Businesses and Directorate Head in charge of Lagos and West Businesses. Chris was also the pioneer Managing Director of Diamond Pension Fund Custodian Limited.

He holds a B.Sc. (First Class) Degree in Industrial Mathematics from the University of Benin, Benin-City, Nigeria and an MBA from the University of Lagos, Nigeria.

He also attended the following prestigious Business Schools: The Wharton Business School, Philadelphia where he did Advanced Management programme; IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Barcelona and Lagos Business School, Pan-African University.

He equally attended Leadership and Corporate Governance Training in the Henley Business School, University of Reading, the U.K. and Advanced Company Direction Programme, Institute of Directors, London.

Board Chairman, Kweku Awotwi stated "As a Board, we are delighted to have someone of Chris’ calibre and experience to continue the Bank’s growth strategy.

"He brings with him exceptional leadership qualities, breadth of knowledge and deep insights of the sub-region, which will be useful in driving the growth of the Ghana business”.

UBA Ghana is the biggest subsidiary operation of UBA Plc outside of Nigeria. The board believes that Chris’ experience from other jurisdictions will be useful in improving what we are already doing in Ghana, making us a major force in the industry.

Welcoming the news, Mr Ofikulu expressed appreciation to the Board and other stakeholders of the Bank.

He noted “I wish to thank all our stakeholders for the warm welcome. UBA Ghana has a remarkable platform of great people and the drive for excellence.

"I sincerely look forward to working with the Board of Directors, Management Team and Employees in making UBA Ghana one of the leading banks in Ghana in line with our status as ‘Africa’s Global Bank”.