Former Barclays bank boss and Chairman of Atlas Mara, Bob Diamond has stepped down after the company had a strategic review of its operations.
Mr Diamond, who has been chairman of Atlas Mara for two years, will be replaced by Michael Wilkerson, chief executive of Fairfax Africa, which is Atlas Mara’s largest shareholder. He will however remain a non-executive director at the group. Co-founder Ashish Thakkar had left the board in 2017 following a deal with Fairfax Africa.
The shake-up is coming at the heels of growing concerns over flagging performance and share price weakness. Since the company’s listing in 2013, it has lost more than 80 percent of its value, principally due to sharp economic downturn and weakening currency in key markets such as Nigeria. The group owns 49 per cent of Nigeria’s Union Bank.
Reuters reports that Atlas Mara also failed in a high-profile 2016 bid for Barclays’ African banking operations in a deal that would have reunited veteran banker and Atlas co-founder Bob Diamond with a business he helped to build.
Also based on the strategic review of the company’s operations, Muhammad ‘Omar’ Khan from Commercial International Bank, will be resuming as chief financial officer in April 2019.
As part of its review of strategic options, Atlas Mara said it is considering the acquisition of a 35 percent stake in South African financial services provider GroCapital from Fairfax Africa to accelerate the move into digital banking.
