Duffour II, other Unibank Executives lose jobs

Dr Kwabena Duffour II, Chief Executive Officer of Unibank heads a list of nine high-profile directors of the bank who have lost their jobs following the take-over by the Bank of Ghana.

The Bank of Ghana Governor, Dr Ernest Addison at a press briefing on Tuesday, March 20 said the entire executive management including Dr Duffour II will give way to a new KPMG-led team.

Per the BoG directive, Executives of Unibank including Duffuor II, Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis (Chief Operating Officer), Owusu-Ansah Awere (Executive Director), Clifford Duke Mettle (Executive Director), Sylvia Assimeng-Archer (Executive Secretary) and John Collins Arthur (Executive Head of Treasury and Global Trade) will lose their jobs.

The rest are Kwesi Nkrumah Pimpah (Director of Risk Management), Elsie Dansoa Kyereh (Executive Head of Corporate Banking) and Florence Ohene (Executive Head of Innovations and Business Execution).

Read also: Bank of Ghana takes over uniBank

Meet all the Unibank Executives who will lose their jobs below;

Dr Kwabena Duffour II (CEO)

Duffuor II replaced Felix Nyarko-Pong as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of uniBank on June 1, 2017.

Until that elevation, he served as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the multiple award-winning indigenous bank – a position he had held since June 2013.

The son of the former Bank of Ghana Governor holds a PhD in Finance, an Msc Banking and International Finance from Cass Business School, City of London, UK, and a degree in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Southampton.

He has over Nine years banking experience both locally and internationally. He worked with Ghana International Bank Plc, uniBank (Ghana) Limited and Standard Chartered Bank in various departments including, Retail Banking, Treasury Operations and Credit Risk Management. Before his appointment as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), he was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the bank.

Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis (Chief Operating Officer)

Ekow Nyarko Dadzie-Dennis has an impressive background in Banking and Finance. Having worked for over 20 years in this field, Ekow has attained high-quality work experience and good managerial exposure. Ekow worked at Standard Chartered Bank for 13 years and through hard work and selfless devotion to duty, attained working knowledge in credit administration, global markets and treasury sales and services.

He left Standard Chartered Bank, Ghana, for the United Kingdom in 2003 to pursue MSc in International Banking and Finance at Southampton University and completed in 2005. He is also a professional member of Ghana Institute of Bankers and Institute of Financial Services U.K. and holds BSc in Financial Services.

Ekow has been a resource material for both the Institute of Bankers, Ghana and the Banking College, for the past ten (10) years; He is also amongst the best resource materials for APEX Bank Ghana Ltd and African Leasing Association (AFRO Lease). His expertise in Leasing and Assets Financing is excellent and has on many occasions been used by International Financial Corporation (IFC) as a resource person in its numerous advocacy and training programs in and out of Ghana.

Owusu-Ansah Awere (Executive Director)

From 1990 to 1993, Owusu-Ansah worked at John Young and Associates, a private Management Consultancy firm, where he was instrumental in the collection and analysis of survey data. He was active in the execution of technical feasibilities to ascertain commercial viability of projects before implementation in Manufacturing and the Sales and Marketing value chain.

Mr Awere started his banking career twenty-one (21) years ago with Ecobank Ghana. He played various roles and rose to the position of Branch Manager.

In 2001, he joined uniBank (Ghana) Limited as the First Manager of its flagship branch. Thereafter, he held Head of department roles in International Trade, Retail Banking and Central Operations. He has an excellent appreciation of Client Relationship Management and a passion for delivering excellent customer experience. He has depth of knowledge in Consumer, SME, Corporate Banking and Treasury and has been the driving force behind the banks Electronic banking services and strong Information Technology leverage. He has cutting-edge competencies in leadership, strategy formulation and business goal management, having been General Manager, Operations and then Executive Director with a wide range of responsibilities.

Mr Awere holds a BA degree in Social Science from the University of Ghana, Legon and a Masters in Business Administration, (Finance option), from the Wisconsin International University College, Ghana.

Clifford Duke Mettle (Executive Director)

Clifford Mettle has over 30 years of banking experience, having worked with the Ghana Commercial Bank, UT Bank and the National Investment Bank. He has had banking stints with Ghana International Bank, London; BHF Bank, Frankfurt and Citibank, New York. He is a Chartered Banker from the Institute of Financial Services, United Kingdom. He holds an MBA from the University of Ghana Business School and he is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, Ghana. He lectures at the National Banking College, the Chartered Institute of Bankers and the University of Ghana Business School. Currently, he is the President of the Chartered Institute of Bankers.

Kwesi Nkrumah Pimpah (Director Risk Management)

Kwesi Nkrumah Pimpah Director (Risk Management) Kwesi Nkrumah Pimpah has a B.A degree in Economics and Statistics and an MBA from the University of Ghana. He is a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers. He has 16 years’ experience in Banking Supervision, covering Commercial, Development and Merchant banks. He was the Head of Examination Unit seven of the Banking supervision Department and Head of the Operational Risk Management Technical Team as well as a member of Basel II implementation Technical Committee of the Bank of Ghana. He has also worked on various committees and projects at the Bank of Ghana.

Sylvia Assimeng-Archer (Company Secretary)

Sylvia holds a Master of Laws (LLM) in Oil and Gas and a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B Hons), from the University of Ghana and was admitted as a Member of the Ghana Bar Association in 2000. Sylvia further holds a Diploma in Public Private Partnership from the University of Reading, UK. She is a Notary Public.

Sylvia has immense experience in all facets of law with particular specialization in Corporate/Business law, Insurance, Banking and Litigation. Before joining uniBank in June 2004, Sylvia worked as a private legal practitioner.

Sylvia is the Company Secretary of uniBank and uniSecurities (Ghana) Limited.

John Collins Arthur - Executive Head (Treasury & Global Trade)

Mr. John Collins Arthur has over 16 years working experience in the banking sector of Ghana. He served as the Treasurer for International Commercial Bank, Intercontinental Bank Ghana Limited, Access Bank Ghana Limited before joining uniBank Ghana Limited as the Treasurer. He has been in the banking industry since 1997. He began his banking career as the Money Market Dealer at National Investment Bank. Thereafter, he joined International Commercial Bank as the Chief Dealer and rose through the ranks to become the Treasurer in December 2004.

He later joined Intercontinental Bank as the pioneer Treasurer and rose to become the Divisional Head, Treasury and Investment Banking. He was appointed as the Country Treasurer for Access Bank Ghana Limited after the merger with Intercontinental Bank Ghana limited in March, 2012.He assumed his current position as the Treasurer for uniBank Ghana in June, 2012.

He has gained enormous wealth of knowledge and experience over the years and his key strengths are in the areas of Investment Analysis, Security and Foreign Exchange market, Risk Management, Structured Trade and Corresponding Banking relationship.

Mr. Arthur is a Chartered Accountant by profession and holds a B.A (Hons) Economics Degree from the University of Ghana. He also holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (Finance option) from the University of Ghana Business School, Legon. He is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants–UK and a member of ICA (Ghana). He has also attended various international and local courses and seminars.

He is married with four children.

Elsie Dansoa Kyereh (Executive Head, Corporate Banking)

Elsie Dansoa Kyereh is the Executive Head of the Corporate Banking department. She oversees four specialized business units which are; Energy Banking, Institutional Banking, Commodities Banking and the Business Banking units.

Elsie has had over 20 years extensive banking experience working with SSB Bank, Merban Investment Holdings, Merchant Bank and Intercontinental Bank now Access Bank.

Elsie holds a Bachelor’s Degree in B.Sc. Administration (Banking & Finance) from the University of Ghana, Legon and an Executive MBA from the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS).

Elsie strategically leads the Corporate Banking team to ensure that set performance targets in deposit mobilisation, assets, contingent liabilities, risk management, profit and general housekeeping are met.

Florence Adei Ohene (Executive Head, Innovations & Business Execution)

Mrs. Florence Adei Ohene is an experienced international business development and strategic planner with more than 15 years of expertise. She holds an MBA from Georgetown University, Washington D.C., a Master’s in Economic Development from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Cum Laude and a Bachelor’s degree also from UCLA. Mrs. Ohene holds the series 7,63 & 66 securities license with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) as well as the Life and Variable Insurance License.

Mrs. Ohene joined uniBank Ghana in 2014. She began her banking career in 2000 at JPMorgan Private Bank in New York where she served as Private Banker to clients with over $10 MM in liquidity or $20 MM in overall net worth. While at JP Morgan, she spent time with various divisions; portfolio management, fixed income, structured products, FX, equity derivatives, etc. She later joined the Wealth and Investment Management group at SunTrust Bank in Atlanta, GA as a Private Client Advisor and went on to other positions in Strategy and Project Management.

Between 2006 and 2013 she held various roles in retail and corporate banking at PNC Bank (formerly Royal Bank of Canada – RBC, USA). Mrs. Ohene also worked for Africare Inc. at the company's headquarters in Washington D.C. for 1 year before joining their Uganda operations for 3 years.