Bank CEOs To Resign As CBN Reviews Tenure

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced that it will review the tenure of Executive Management and Non-Executive Directors of Nigerian banks and financial institutions, a move that it believes will strengthen the corporate governance structure of the institutions.

In the revised edition for banks’ corporate governance published on Friday, the apex bank stated that the cumulative tenure limit for Executive Directors, Deputy Managing Directors, Managing Directors, and Non-Executive Directors across the banking industry shall not exceed 20 years.

The new guidelines outline the terms of office for Managing Directors, Deputy Managing Directors, and Executive Directors.

The development was announced in a circular on Friday.

The report said:

The tenure of Executive Directors (ED), Deputy Managing Directors (DMD) and Managing Directors (MDs) shall be in accordance with the terms of their engagement approved by the Board of Directors of banks, subject to a maximum tenure of ten (10) years.

Where an Executive who is a DMD becomes the MD/CEO of a bank or any other DMB before the end of his/her maximum tenure, the cumulative tenure of such Executive shall not exceed twelve (12) years.

However, for an Executive (ED) who becomes a DMD of a bank or any other DMB, his/her cumulative tenure as ED and DMD shall not exceed 10 years.

Non-Executive Directors (NEDs), with the exception of Independent Non-Executive Director (INED), shall serve for a maximum period of twelve (12) years in a bank, broken into three terms of four years each.

EDs, DMDs and MDs who exit from the Board of a bank either upon or prior to the expiration of his/her maximum tenure, shall serve out a cooling-off period of 1 year before being eligible for appointment as a NED to the Board of Directors.

NEDs who exit from the Board of a bank either upon or prior to the expiration of his/her maximum tenure of 12 years (3 terms of 4years each), shall serve out a cooling-off period of 1 year before being eligible for appointment to the Board of Directors of any other DMB.

The cumulative tenure limit of EDs/DMDs, MDs and NEDs across the banking industry is 20 years.

The circular added that the tenure requirements take effect from 24th February 2023.