Francis Atuche: Anchoring Bank PHB’s success on ethical leadership

By Juwon Obajemu, Lagos

Francis Atuche, MD, Bank PHB

Mr. Francis Atuche, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Platinum Habib Bank (BankPHB), is a first rated banker and undoubtedly one of the leading lights in the nation’s banking industry. A man with a strong passion for professionalism and excellence, Atuche has transmitted these virtues into the entire work force of BankPHB, a bank he helped establish in year 2000.

The Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) and an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, has spent considerable time in ensuring that his bank is a world class institution-in outlook, practice and service delivery. And he has succeeded in this sphere. He presides over Bank PHB which is the product of the merger of Platinum Bank Plc and Habib Nigeria Bank Plc following the consolidation exercise in the industry. The bank has as its strategic intent, a desire to build a national and diversified franchise by creating superior value for its stakeholders through an unmatched superior customer service experience.

The bank is also dedicated to a promise of a customer-centric enterprise that continually surpasses the expectation of customers and at the same time successively enhances shareholder value. BankPHB, under Atuche’s watch, has become a centre of innovation where innovative and value adding products and services are regularly made available to the customers and members of the public. Among the array of products launched by the bank are Bank PHB Partners Account, which not only enables customers to earn bonus interests for introducing customers to Bank PHB but also pays customers interests on their deposits; Bank PHB Paytime, which enables customers to have stress-free access to funds before pay day; and Bank PHB Phuture Account, a savings account for kids and teenagers,which supports parents and guardians to plan the education of their children or ward. The other features and benefits include insurance cover, scholarship awards for beneficiaries and payment of high interests.

Also from Bank PHB is Possibilities, a bouquet of consumer banking products designed to make it possible for the banking public to acquire any desired asset of their choice including cars, electronics, shares of quoted companies and even landed properties and houses with ease. The variants of Bank PHB Possibilities are the Easy Life Scheme, which makes it easy for customers to buy any asset of their choice by paying just a fraction of the amount while Bank PHB pays the balance. The buyer is then allowed to pay the balance to Bank PHB over an agreed period of time. Another variant of the Bank PHB “Possibilities” is the Share acquisition scheme, in which the Bank supports customers to purchase shares in quoted companies.

The Bank PHB Partner account is an innovation in that it introduces network marketing into the Nigerian banking system and is one product that is bound to keep the banking public continuously excited. This is the first product in the Nigerian banking industry that provides opportunities for bank customers to earn extra income by introducing customers to Bank PHB. “Partners,” besides allowing customers to earn the normal interest on their deposits also allows them to earn “bonus interest” for new customers introduced. As a way of geometrically improving the earnings capacity of the bank, Atuche and his team have partnered with Fortis Investment. Apart from allowing BankPHB to manage a portion of the nation’s $43 billion external reserves, the partnership will also benefit the bank in the areas of training, asset management, retail banking strategy, among others.

Speaking on the partnership recently, Atuche said:”…Some partnerships are just for co-managing the foreign reserve, and others allow you to learn some technical and service offering issue from the partner. Between us and Fortis Investment, we are about opening our asset management company in Nigeria; it is going to be a joint venture in Nigeria. We have visited Fortis in the UK and they are training some of our staff for six months on their own expense. They will come back to manage the asset management company we are about floating. They have helped us to support our retail business strategy. We have meet with their retail team in Brussels and they will be coming to Nigeria towardsthe end of March and early April, to create a world class treasury for us. So, it is not just a partnership just for managing foreign reserve. It is an all-encompassing partnership and we are sharing knowledge. Fortunately, they have partnership in other parts of the world, like in Russia, and they are very eager to see the benefit that will accrue to this partnership, with view to target the west coast of Africa.

And in a bid to have a solid capital base that willenable it participate in the international financial market, shareholders of Bank PHB had approved the request by the directors of the bank to raise further funds from the capital market. Happy with the bank’s decision to pay N1.25 billion dividends and the over 90 per cent return made in form of capital gain since the bank’s private placement in 2005, shareholders endorsed the bank’s new proposal. Atuche had explained that the desire for more capitalwas in line with the need to play at the very top end of the Nigerian financial industry. The bank, he says, will rank among the top five banks in the next five years. Atuche has succeeded in growing the fortunes of the bank over the years. The bank’s annual report presented to shareholders had shown impressive growth in all major indices. Bank PHB’s total balance sheet size now stands at N188 billion as at June 2006 representing significant 209 per cent increase on N61 billion total balance sheet in June 2005. This shows the bank has doubled its capacity to generate earningsin future according to analysts familiar with financial reports.

The bank’s deposit liability now stands at N109 billion representing an increase of 395 per cent over N22 billion in the same period of 2005, an indication of the increased confidence of the banking public in the bank. It is also a clear evidence of the increasing strength and visibility of the bank’s brand and wide acceptance of its financial products by the banking public. Though merger expenses shot up operating costs, Bank PHB management was able to retain efficiencies in the bank’s operations raising profit before tax by a significant 233 percent to N3.52 billion. Profit after tax stood at N2.45 billion, a 248 percent increase on the bank’s profit after tax of N703 million in 2005. In line with its commitment to build a brand that rewards customers’ patronage, and continuously excites the banking public, Bank PHB had in the past given opportunity to both customers and non-customers to become millionaires.

Tagged “Pot of Phortune” the promotion was targeted at rewarding existing customers as well as creating a platform for new customers that desire to benefit from the Bank’s array of retail banking products targeted at addressing specific needs of a wide spectrum of the banking populace.Riding on the Bank’s “passionate” service delivery tradition, the promotion was designed for all the existing savings account holders of the bank as well as new individuals who open any of the Bank’s savings account– PARTNERS ACCOUNT, PHUTURE ACCOUNT, PAYTIME, or the traditional savings account from July to September 2006. Accounts were to be opened with as low as N1000. However,to qualify for a monthly draw, each account holder, both existing and fresh customers were expected to have a minimum balance of N20,000 in their account on the last day for every month’s cut-off date. Additionally,existing customers, were required to deposit additional N20,000 into their accounts to qualify for the draws.

The winner every month for the duration of the promo went home with a one million Naira star prize,while 20 others went home with a consolation price of N50, 000 each. BankPHB has won some awards in recognition of its excellent service delivery and the growth in its operations. At the 1st Vanguard Banking Award held recently, The bank won the “Most Improved Bank” in Nigeria award. The awards night was attended by the cream of Nigeria’s banking society including Chukwuma Soludo, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The organizers of the award listed the criteria used in selecting Bank PHB as the winner in this category as asset quality, corporate governance, capital adequacy, customer service, new products and services and noticeable changes in the bank’s policies and practices post consolidation, explaining that the most improved bank award seeks to “show the bank that has taken strategic steps to up its service delivery to customers, providing value added services to its numerous customers and overcoming weaknesses it had at consolidation.”

This is the third award to be won by Bank PHB in the last six months. Bank PHB late 2006 won the bestadvert of the year award of the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN) and NTA advert of the yearawards. Bank PHB has also been nominated for the Thisday Newspapers Most Improved Bank award. As the bank sets out for another phase in its life, it can only be expected that sooner, rather than later,it will become one of the most dominant financial institutions in the country. A consummate banker of repute, Mr. Francis Atuche had garnered seventeen years of cognate banking experience before assuming office in March 2000 as the founding Managing Director/CEO of Platinum Bank Limited, now Bank PHB. He has extensive hands-on experience from reputable institutions such as UBA Plc; Chartered Bank; and Ecobank, in areas as diverse as Credit and Marketing;Branch Development/Co-ordination; Branch Management; and founding a leading mortgage institution, Finacorp Building Society.

An alumnus of both the prestigious IMD, Laussane,Switzerland and the Lagos Business School; a Fellow ofthe Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN);and Associate member of the Institute of CharteredAccountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Mr. Atuche, in addition holds a Master of Science Degree in Banking andFinance from the University of Ibadan.

Fashola fraternises with Lagos bankers

Akin Adewakun, Lagos

Babatunde Fashola, Lagos State Governor

The governor of Lagos state, Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, will on Thursday, 16th August, 2007, fraternise with Lagos bankers and other stakeholders during their Annual Lagos Bankers' Nite put together by the Lagos branch of The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).

A release issued by Mr Sam Ayininuola, Chairman 2007 Organising Committee and Executive Director (Management Services), Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, indicated that the Governor will be the Guest of Honour at the Event, adding that arrangements had been concluded to ensure a successful, hitch-free event scheduled for the prestigious Civic Centre,

Victoria Island .
Mrs Juliet Madubueze, President/ Chairman of Council, CIBN will preside over the event, while Mr Mitchelle Elegbe, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Interswitch Nigeria Limited and the Guest Speaker of the occasion would speak on "e-Payment Systems: Issues, Trends and Challenges".

Mr Ayininuola, while soliciting for the support of all members and Corporate bodies to ensure a memorable Lagos Bankers' Nite, assured that the event will attract top government officials and captains of industry, he concluded.