The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Polaris Bank Limited, Mr. Tokunbo Abiru, has retired from the bank, effective August 31, 2020.
A recent statement from the bank explained that the decision was taken following Abiru’s completion of his second two-year tenure as the Managing Director.
However, rumour has it that the former Lagos State Finance Commissioner wants to join the race in the forthcoming senatorial bye-election billed for October 31, 2020 to replace the deceased Lagos East member of the National Assembly, Senator Bayo Osinowo.
In an emotion-laden farewell message to the staff of the bank, Abiru explained that having served meritoriously in the banking industry for nearly three decades, he had resolved to retire to enable him contribute his quota in other areas of the society.
Sharing his scorecard while serving as the CEO of the bank, Abiru said: “It gives me great pleasure to say that, with the support of the Board, Executive Management and all of you, we have delivered on the mandate given to us by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) upon assumption of office in 2016.”
The outgoing Abiru went down the memory lane as he reminded staff of the bank’s poor state before he assumed office in 2016 as the Group Managing Director of the erstwhile Skye Bank.
He added that as at when he assumed office as the CEO, all prudential ratios were out of compliance with regulatory requirements, capital was negative, and the loan book was mostly delinquent, while liquidity faced deposit attrition.
Also, the IT infrastructure was dilapidated and employee morale was low, resulting in erosion of public confidence. But, he praised the staff for working with him to reverse the trend and bring about an institution that has become a compelling case study in corporate turnaround within Nigeria’s financial services industry.
Abiru stressed that: “We have reversed almost all regulatory ratios for good and currently rank amongst the very best in the industry. There can be no better testament to the much-improved state of the bank than the full year 2019 results in which the bank posted profit after tax (PAT) of N27 billion.
“To buttress the fact that this is sustainable, the bank’s first half 2020 result showed a PAT of over N18 billion, despite the tremendous headwinds brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
He said: “We also commenced the refreshment of the bank’s IT infrastructure, which had largely become outdated and dilapidated due to years of under-investment.’’
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