Diamond Bank, a tier two bank in Nigeria has appointed Dele Babade as its new acting Chairman according to a press statement released by the bank on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Diamond Bank is reportedly undergoing a merger process with Access Bank.
The statement said, “We write to formally notify the Exchange that following the resignation of Oluseyi Bickersteth as Director or Chairman of the Board, the Board of Directors of Diamond Bank Plc, has appointed Dele Babade as acting Chairman effective December 24, 2018.”
Babade holds Bachelors and Master’s degrees in Laws from University of London and was called to both the Nigerian and English Bar. He has extensive experience as Banker with 19 years track record of practical experience in International Finance and banking, coupled with sound academic and professional qualifications in Corporate Finance and Commercial Law and has almost 30 years of experience in the financial markets, mostly in Africa.
He is the Founder of AfriCapital Group and he serves as the Chief Executive Officer of ACL Capital Partners Limited. He also serves as an Advisor at The Carlyle Group LP. He has been an Advisor at Carlyle Sub-Saharan Africa Fund since March 13, 2017.
He has been a Non-Executive Director of Diamond Bank Plc since July 24, 2017 with prior experience as Deputy Managing Director of Citibank Nigeria Limited before June 29, 2007. He served as Group Executive of Ecobank Capital at Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.
In 2007, he started his own investment advisory firm but left briefly to join Ecobank Nigeria as Head of Ecobank Capital from 2010 to 2012.
Since 2012, he has been running his firm basically doing cross border transactions. He started his career with HSBC Investment Bank, London. He has also held senior positions at HSBC Investment Bank (formerly Midland Montagu), Nomura International and Citigroup.
Babade serves as a Director of Multi-Links Telecommunications Ltd. He serves as a Board Director of the Africa Risk Capacity Pan African Insurance Company. He served as a Director of Citibank Nigeria Limited until June 29, 2007. After re-joining Citibank in 2000, he was moved to Nigeria in 2001 as an Executive Director covering Nigeria and West Africa and was a Board Member from 2001 to 2006. He is a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria where he serves on the Council of Legal Education in Lagos.
