Adesola Adeduntan whose full name is Adesola Kazeem Adeduntan was born in May 1969 in Ibadan, Oyo State. In his early childhood, he attended Ibadan Municipal Government Primary School (IMG), Adeoyo for his primary education and the Urban Day Grammar School, Old Ife Road, Ibadan, where he had his secondary schooling. He was the Deputy Senior Prefect in his final year (1985/86).
Marriage
Adeduntan is married to Mrs. Adenike Adeduntan and has three children
Education
Adesola Adeduntan was admitted to the University of Ibadan in 1986 to study Veterinary Medicine, he qualifying in 1992 as a veterinary surgeon. Adeduntan holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Cranfield University Business School, United Kingdom which he attended as a distinguished British Chevening Scholar.
In addition to his MBA, he has also attended executive/leadership programmes at Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford and INSEAD. Adesola is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN).
Career
Sola started his working career in 1994 with defunct Afribank (Nig) Plc. in Ibadan Main branch as a graduate trainee, where he worked for 18 months in various functions in banking operations including cash management, clearing operations, credit risk management, and foreign operations.
He was with Arthur Andersen Nigeria between 1995 and 2002, where he rose to become manager in financial services industry business. In this role, he led and managed the statutory audit of a number of leading Nigerian banks. In August 2000, he served as an instructor at the Andersen World-Wide Induction training for new hires in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He also served as the lead instructor for the Local Office Basic Accounting Training and Induction course in 1999.
Sola worked as a senior manager, financial services industry in KPMG between June 2002 and October 2004, where he co-pioneered the firms’ financial risk management advisory services. A knowledge manager, he was also a KPMG-accredited Trainer and facilitated several internal training programmes.
Sola also worked with Citibank Nigeria Limited between 2005 and 2007 as the Senior Vice-President (General Manager) and Chief Financial Officer responsible for the bank’s financial and product control functions, quality assurance and operational risk management. He played key roles in the recapitalisation of the bank during the Nigerian banking consolidation era.
In 2007 November, Sola joined the Africa Finance Corporation, as the pioneer Chief Financial Officer and Business Manager. In March 2014, he led the team that secured an A3/P2 investment grade international credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service. This made the Africa Finance Corporation the second highest-rated lending financial institution in Africa.
In July 2014, Sola joined FirstBank and was appointed an Executive Director/Group Chief Financial Officer of the bank, where he was responsible for the bank’s financial control, internal control and enhancement, business performance management, treasury and procurement functions.
Adesola Adedutan succeeded Bisi Onasanya as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of FirstBank of Nigeria Limited and its commercial banking subsidiaries (FBN UK, FBN Ghana, FBN DRC, FBN Guinea, FBN Gambia, FBN Mortgages, FBN Insurance and First Pension Custodian Limited) in January 2016.
Sola currently sits on the board of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, and as a non-executive director; on the boards of the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS); Africa Finance Corporation (AFC); FBN Bank U.K. Ltd.; Universal Payments Plc.; and FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange.
Controversy
First Bank of Nigeria in April 2021 confirmed that Adesola Adeduntan had resumed as the Chief Executive Officer in line with the directives of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
PREMIUM TIMES reported how the CBN sacked all directors of First Bank and its holding company, FBN Holdings Plc. The regulator then reinstated Mr Adeduntan as the managing director and chief executive officer of the bank, a day after he was removed by the board. He announced the constitution of an interim board ”to stabilise the lender”
Awards
Some of the awards won by FirstBank of Nigeria Limited under Adesola Adeduntan’s leadership includes:
- First financial institution in Nigeria to achieve 100 million sustained monthly transactions in Electronic Payment” in December 2015 and again in May 2016. Interswitch.
- “Most valuable banking brand” for the 6th consecutive times in 2017 by The Banker Magazine of the Financial Times.
- “Digital Bank of Distinction, Nigeria” award by the Global Finance magazine for the 2nd consecutive time in 2017.
- ´Best Retail Bank in Nigeria” for the 7th consecutive time by the renowned Asian Banker Awards in 2018.
- “The Best Bank in Nigeria” for the 15th time by the Global Finance Magazine. Also, in 2018.
- 2016 Adesola was awarded the “Banker Of The Year 2016” by the Leadership (newspaper) “For refusing to ‘go with the flow’ even when the temptation was high and the reward substantial, and for reminding his colleagues that banking is nothing without integrity”.
- 2019 “Best Mobile Banking App” and “Fastest Growing Retail Bank” winner by Global Business Outlook and numerous other awards in 2019