AfDB appoints Nigeria’s Dr. Fashina as Senior Director, IT, CITO

The African Development Bank has announced the appointment of Dr. Oluwatomisin Adeola FASHINA as Senior Director, Information Technology/ Chief Information Technology Officer, effective 16th January 2024.

Dr. Oluwatomisin Adeola FASHINA, a Nigerian national, brings to this role over 30 years of experience in Technology and Financial Services Management. He joins the African Development Bank from Ecobank Group where he has been serving as the Group Executive for Operations and Technology and Managing Director for eProcess International, positions he has held since March 2021.

As the Group Executive for Operations and Technology and Managing Director for eProcess International, Dr. Fashina has been a member of the Group Executive Committee, responsible for the Operations and Technology functions across all 34 affiliates of the Group, with responsibilities for information technology, banking operations, customer experience, information security and business continuity management, cyber security, realty, procurements, physical security and services, and fintechs. He oversaw the design and implementation of several projects which included among others, Digital Transformation, Customer Experience Transformation, Roll-out of Microsoft Dynamics D365 Customer Relationship Management system across the enterprise, Process Automation – Robotic Process Automation/ Artificial Intelligence and implementation of Oracle Human Resource Fusion.

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He also led the Multi Cloud Implementation of ISO 27001 and 22301 certifications. Dr. Fashina’ s first appointment at the Ecobank Group was to the position of Group Chief Information Officer and Managing Director eProcess International in April 2016. In this role, he was responsible for the overall technology function in the Group and delivering on the Group Digital Strategy, while ensuring technology service delivery in all banking affiliates to end customers, as well as effective cybersecurity management.

He was also responsible for all technology assets across the Group for supporting transaction processing, services to the affiliates and the catalyst for driving the ‘One Bank’ strategy. He spearheaded many digital transformation projects, leading to significant cost reduction, with 95% digital transactions, closure of 578 branches, reduction of headcount by 5,500 (19,568 in 2015), and ISO 20000 certification.

He was also instrumental in the setting up of Ecobank Software Center, responsible for software development, integration and driving innovation. Prior to joining the Ecobank Group, Dr. Fashina was Chairperson of Steward Bank (Harare, Zimbabwe), from February 2013 to April 2016, where he successfully turned around the Bank from loss to profit making by 2015.

He also led the digital transformation of the bank from a traditional bank to a Digital Bank and helped to open a record one (1) million accounts in 2013, as compared to one (1) million accounts in the entire Zimbabwe banking industry then.

Throughout his career, Dr. Fashina has served in various strategic roles such as Chief Executive Officer at Yookos from September 2011 to April 2016. Yookos is a Social Networking site, designed to enable individuals to connect to the world. It is an entrepreneurial initiative in collaboration with a Christian ministry.

He also had a brief stint at ABSA Bank PLC (member of the Barclays Group) as General Manager and Head, Transactional Banking Products and Channels Management, from August 2010 to September 2011.

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He was responsible for the product development and management of the Cash Management, Trade and Transactional FX businesses and delivery channels across the Business and Corporate Bank. Prior to this, he was Director, Cash Management and Payments at Barclays Bank Emerging Markets in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), from April 2007 to July 2010, where he was responsible for leading a team of over 60 professionals across Russia, UAE, India, Pakistan, 8 African and 2 Indian Ocean countries, to deliver corporate treasury and transaction banking solutions to subsidiaries of Multinationals, Large Corporates, Developmental organizations and Small and Medium Enterprises.

He had earlier worked with the United Bank for Africa, Nigeria as a Consumer Product Manager and Fidelity Bank Nigeria as Information Technology Head. He is a holder of a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria (1989), a Master of Business Administration (Marketing) from the University of Lagos, Nigeria (1995) and a PhD in Business Management from Capella University, Minnesota, USA (2019).

Commenting on his appointment, Dr. Fashina said: “I am grateful to President Adesina for his confidence and the opportunity to lead the Information Technology Department and its talented staff.

“I am also humbled and at the same time excited to be given the chance to lead the Bank’s efforts of ensuring world-class service enhancement with the overarching mandate of combining operational resilience with building and implementing an outstanding technology strategy in order to achieve a sustained advantage for the Bank.”

Commenting on the appointment, the President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina said: “I am pleased to appoint Dr. Oluwatomisin Adeola Fashina as Senior Director, Information Technology/ Chief Information Technology Officer. Dr. Fashina is a strategic leader with world class expertise in Information Technology, Banking Operations and systems thinking. I am confident that at this time when the Bank is currently in the process of a major systems transformation, his sound track record of driving organizational success through the deployment of modern technologies and motivating teams for top performance will be a key asset in in the continuous improvement of the Bank’s information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure”.