His appointment in the new role is subject to approval by the Central Bank of Kenya/COURTESY
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 2- Equity Bank has appointed John Wilson as the new Group Chief Operating Officer.
Wilson was previously working as the head of financial institutions in East and Southern Africa at the IFC and will now be expected to oversee operations at the Group level while the Bhartesh Shah will lead the Group’s Enterprise Risk Management, who was the acting COO after Igathe left the group.
His appointment in the new role is subject to approval by the Central Bank of Kenya.
John Wilson is an alumni of Ivy league Princeton University where he graduated with a master’s degree in public affairs and managed to get a master’s in economics from Uppsala University in Sweden.
The Swedish National holds experience in banking and finance, having spent 14 years at the World Bank.
Earlier in his career, he spent 5 years at McKinsey during which he accumulated a wealth of experience at senior management level.
Speaking while making the announcement, James Mwangi, Managing Director and CEO Equity Group Holdings Plc described Wilson as an individual with international experience that will boost the growth of the bank.
“His depth of expertise and understanding of the African financial institutions will be invaluable as the Group takes a leading role in the Africa region,” said Mwangi.
Recent exits at the bank include that of Polycarp Igathe, who was serving as Managing Director of Equity Bank Kenya but left the bank to join his former employer Vivo Energy as the Executive Vice President for Sales and Marketing.
The bank also announced the exit of Jack Ngare who was the Managing Director for the banks’ subsidiary Finserve, who left to join Microsoft as the Managing Director Africa Development Centre in Kenya.
Eric Karobia who was Finserve’s Director for Strategic Execution also left to join Airtel Uganda.
