At 68, Atedo Peterside Says It’s Time To Go Home, Leaving Banking That Least Needs Him Aside For Other Pursuits



The Oasis Reporters
June 20, 2024

Atedo Peterside
@AtedoPeterside
Here’s the piece of information that Atedo Peterside released on X (formerly known as Twitter):
“Today was the Annual General Meeting of Standard Bank Group Limited and I opted not to be re-elected as a Director. The retirement age is actually 70, but I believe 35 years is enough & the succession plans have worked well”
Link to X:
https://x.com/AtedoPeterside/status/1800087586/079375720
Atedo Peterside:
“@AtedoPeterside
Dear All, Thank you ever so much for your kind words, some excellently crafted messages (online and offline), phone calls etc. To those who wondered what I would be doing next, the truth is that over the last decade or so, I juggled my time between 3 broad activities across a number of geographies:
1) The Banking & Financial Services Businesses;
2) Non-Banking Businesses owned exclusively by me and my family;
3) My Foundation + Other National & International NGO Activity + Advocacy & Quasi-Political activism aimed at the pursuit of Good Governance.
What I did yesterday was bring my active involvement in 1) above to an end because I convinced myself that it is the one that needs me the least on account of succession planning that, by the grace of God, has been largely hitch-free.
The task of juggling 2) and 3) above remains, but I am confident that I can still manage them with the help of the people around me, whose development I have invested in through the years”.
The phenomenal banker and investor who started out at a reasonably young age at NAL Merchant Bank that had shares by the Federal Government, Northern Nigeria Development Corporation (NNDC), some few individuals, was so structured that if you were born of northern Nigerian origin you could become the Managing Director one day.
The Federal Government shares covered you, as well as the NNDC shares. Both blocs of shares were in the majority. Therefore you could rise to any position.
But if you were born a southern Nigerian, only the Federal Government shares covered you. That wouldn’t be enough to take you to the top position.
No matter how hard you worked. No matter how valuable you were.
That was the dilemma Atedo Peterside faced. He was astounding as a banker but his ceiling was either the Assistant General Managership or the Deputy General Managership.
After that, would be compulsory retirement.
So Atedo Peterside hit his ceiling there at his thirties, and the next best move was to retire home and pick his nails. Banks were not too many in the Nigeria of the 60s, 70s and 80s.
Peterside had to go home and retire in his 30s and perhaps go a-fishing as a Rivers man. But a smile flashed from heaven above, and General Ibrahim Babangida happened to Nigeria. It was him that unlocked the banking sector, asking those who could, to apply for licenses and start their own from scratch. Atedo Peterside could not believe his amazing luck.
He promptly applied to own Investment Bank and Trust Company (IBTC) in one residential apartment in Victoria Island.

Within a short while, his firm so made it that during the era of banking Consolidations, Mergers and Acquisitions, he could acquire Chartered Bank (with its very many branches nationwide). They became IBTC-Chartered.
And there were further mergers with the South African bank, Stanbic Bank (formerly Grindlays Merchant Bank originally owned by the Australia New Zealand Banking Corporation (ANZ) who were divesting from Africa .
So Stanbic IBTC was born.
At a point, Atedo Peterside counted his eggs and knew that one day, he might feel too tired, too old to be running around looking over his investments. Best to move into a well structured mega banking corporation.
Stanbic Bank was the answer.
It’s a very old financial institution.
The day has come.
Here’s him:
“Limiting myself to 2) and 3) above also considerably reduces the geographical challenges.
It is my sincere hope that I will now have more time available for all the other important family, business, national and international projects that I am still deeply interested in. Bless you.”
Welcome home, Atedo. Opobo needs you. Rivers State needs you. Most importantly, Nigeria needs you.
StanbicIBTC can run without you while you collect your pension and dividends.
Greg Abolo
gregabolo@gmail.com .




