Bunna Bank Keeps Its Interim as CEO

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has approved Bunna International Bank S.C’s board of directors request in assigning its long-serving vice president Tadesse Chienkel, as new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bank.

In a letter written on May 11, 2017, the central bank approved the new position of Tadesse, making him the third CEO of the Bank next to Eshetu Fanatye and Negede Abebe.

Prior to Eshetu’s resignation, Tadesse served as interim CEO twice: during the departure of Bunna’s first CEO and when Eshetu was on sick leave after the car accident.

“I feel honoured to have been selected to head the Bank,” said Tadesse.

He is assigned six months after the resignation of Eshetu, former CEO of the Bank, due to health issues. Since then, Tadesse has been serving the Bank as interim CEO.

“It is very hard to find banking professionals in the industry,” said Tibebu Eshetu, board chairman of the Bank, explaining why the Bank has failed to select a president for more than half a year. “Recommendation and headhunting is the only way to fill such a position. Otherwise, it will be hard to get applicants for big posts like a Head.”

CEOs in the banking industry need to fulfil criteria set by the National Bank. They must have at least eight years of banking experience, with half that time spent in a managerial position.

The disagreement of the board on whether to open the CEO’s position to outside candidates or not was another reason for the delay, according to sources. This has even led the board to reverse its decision.

Three months ago, the board unanimously selected Negusu G. Egziabher, founding president of Lion International Bank with 15 years of experience, as new CEO for the Bank. However, the board failed to reach a consensus to select him.

Tadesse has close to four decades of experience in the banking industry. He earned his first degree in Business Management from Addis Abeba University in 1983. He joined the banking industry in the mid-1980s and served in different positions at Construction and Business Bank (CBB), which was dissolved by the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia.

Before he joined Bunna, he was a credit manager at CBB for almost a decade. He joined Bunna Bank with the same post during the establishment of the Bank in 2008.

The board has not yet decided whom will fill the vice presidential position previously held by Tadesse.

Bunna, one of the late entrants in the banking industry, has around four percent of market share in the country. Last year, it earned a net profit of 187 million Br, 40pc higher than the previous fiscal year. Currently, the Bank has 1,200 permanent and 1,215 temporary employees who serve at its 130 branches throughout the country.

 

 


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