Atedo Peterside has resigned as the chairman of Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc.

Mr. Peterside served as the Chief Executive Officer of the bank from inception in 1989 and later as Chairman after the merger that created Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc in 2007.

A letter sent to the board Tuesday said Mr. Peterside’s resignation takes effect from March 31.

Mr. Peterside, according to the letter, noted that he needed to resign so he could “move on”, adding that he looks forward to a new chapter in his interaction with the bank.

The letter reads in part: “I believe this is the ideal time for me to resign from the board of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc with effect from the close of business on March 31, 2017 and to move on.”

Commenting further, Mr. Peterside said, “We have a strong tradition of careful succession planning at both Stanbic IBTC and the Standard Bank Group.

“I look forward to a new chapter where my interactions with Stanbic IBTC will be exclusively from the outside and/or from Johannesburg, that is, looking in from the outside like every other parent company non-executive does when looking at all the group subsidiary operations across the Africa regions.”

The IBTC chief said the bank’s protracted dispute with the Financial Reporting Council led him to stay on as group chairman in Nigeria for much longer than he would have liked. He said had planned to depart in 2015 from the Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc board following an appointment to the board of Standard Bank Group Limited and The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited in August 2014.

Stanbic IBTC

“However several directors advised that there should be no change of guard at the top in Stanbic IBTC in the midst of such a dispute,” Mr. Peterside said.

“Thankfully, the FRC matter is now behind us and our Stanbic IBTC Holdings audited accounts for 2015 were approved late last year, while our audited accounts for 2016 have already been approved by the authorities this week.

“I would like to seize this opportunity to thank all the directors of Stanbic IBTC for the support through the years,” he added.

Mr. Peterside also disclosed that he would henceforth cease to discuss the Nigerian operations of the bank unless he is mandated to do otherwise, adding that he would want to concentrate on another business concern.

“From April 1, 2017, I will not be available to discuss our Nigerian operations unless required to do so by the parent board.

“In business terms in Nigeria, I would like to be able to concentrate largely on ANAP Business Jets Limited, which I founded a. couple of years ago and where I am Chairman,” he said.

In 1989, Mr. Peterside set up IBTC at the age of 33 and was chief executive until 2007.