Why I resigned as Stanbic IBTC Chairman – Atedo Peterside

The Chairman of Stanbic IBTC Plc , Mr. Atedo Peterside, Tuesday, announced his resignation from the board of the bank after serving for 10 years.

In a message to the board, Peterside, who set up IBTC at the age of 33 in 1989 said “this is the ideal time for me to move on”.

His resignation takes effect on March 31, 2017
Peterside served as chairman of the financial service holding company with subsidiaries in banking, stock brokerage, investment advisory, pension and trustee businesses.
Full text of his resignation Letter:
Dear Directors,

Having served as the Chief Executive Officer of IBTC from inception in 1989 and all the way up until the merger that created Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc in 2007 and as Chairman thereafter, I believe this is the ideal time for me to resign from the Board of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc with effect from the close of business on 31 March, 2017 and to move on.
We have a strong tradition of careful succession planning at both Stanbic IBTC and the Standard Bank Group. I look forward to a new chapter where my interactions with Stanbic IBTC will be exclusively from the outside and/or from Johannesburg, i.e. looking in from the outside like every other parent company Non-Executive does when looking at all the Group subsidiary operations across the Africa regions.
Our protracted dispute with the Financial Reporting Council FRC led me to stay on as Group Chairman in Nigeria for much longer than I would have liked, as everything was on course for my planned departure in 2015 from the Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc Board following my appointment to the Board of Standard Bank Group Limited and The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited in August 2014. However several directors advised that there should be no change of guard at the top in Stanbic IBTC in the midst of such a dispute.
Thankfully the FRC matter is now behind us and our Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc audited accounts for 2015 were approved late last year, whilst our audited accounts for 2016 have already been approved by the authorities this week.

I would like to seize this opportunity to thank all the Directors of Stanbic IBTC for your support through the years. Some of you have been on this journey with me as investors since 1989. I am leaving the Stanbic IBTC board, but being a part of the parent company board in South Africa, means that I still have some indirect oversight functions.
Some of you know that I am a stickler for following due process and so, from01 April, 2017, I will not be available to discuss our Nigerian operations unless required to do so by the parent board. In business terms in Nigeria, I would like to be able to concentrate largely on ANAP Business Jets Limited, which I founded a couple of years ago and where I am Chairman.
I wish you every success as you pilot the affairs of Stanbic IBTC into the future.”