First HoldCo appoints new non-executive director

First HoldCo Plc has appointed Gwen Mwaba as a non-executive director of the financial institution, effective 15 October, following an approval by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The lender disclosed the appointment in a regulatory filing signed by Abiola Baruwa, the group company secretary, on Thursday.

First HoldCo said the appointment was made in accordance with the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) Rulebook.

According to the lender, Ms Mwaba brings significant expertise in corporate governance and board oversight, credit risk and portfolio management, banking strategy, capital deployment, structured trade and commodity finance, development finance, environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, and emerging-market risk.

Profile

Ms Mwaba brings nearly three decades of experience in global banking and development finance institutions, with particular expertise in credit risk oversight, portfolio governance, corporate and sovereign lending, structured trade and commodity finance, development finance and emerging markets.

Until recently, she served as managing director of Trade Finance and Correspondent Banking at the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), based in Cairo, Egypt.

In that role, Ms Mwaba had executive leadership responsibility for trade finance and structured credit activities across Africa and the Caribbean.

The newly appointed director also oversaw a $19.5 billion portfolio of sovereign, financial institution and corporate exposures.

She contributed to the bank’s Pre-Credit and Credit Committees, providing senior credit judgement on major lending transactions. She also oversaw portfolio strategy, sector exposures and country risk limits.

Before that, Ms Mwaba served as regional head for Anglophone West Africa at Afreximbank, overseeing regional strategy and credit origination across Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Liberia, The Gambia and Cape Verde.

Earlier, she was executive vice president of Structured Trade and Commodity Finance at Standard Bank Plc, London, where she was responsible for complex commodity finance, export credit agency-backed facilities and pre-export financing transactions across Africa.

Her earlier banking career included senior roles at Stanbic Bank Zambia and Standard Bank South Africa, including head of Vehicle and Asset Finance and head of Corporate Banking.

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Ms Mwaba’s wider industry experience includes membership of the editorial board of Trade Treasury & Payments.

Until recently, her also served on the Multilateral Institutions Board Advisory Panel of the International Trade and Forfaiting Association (ITFA) and the World Trade Organization-led Expert Group on Trade Finance.

Ms Mwaba holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Heriot-Watt University, United Kingdom, and a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Applied Accounting from Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom.

She is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA) and holds a professional qualification from the Chartered Institute of Transport.