Unity Bank, AIICO, Linkage’s MDs get awards

Some managing directors in the banking and insurance industries have been  given  the Top 25 CEOs Next Bulls awards in recognition of their performance on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

Some of them are the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Unity Bank Plc, Mrs Oluwatomi Somefun, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, AIICO Insurance Plc, Mr Edwin Igbiti, and the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer, Linkage Assurance Plc, Mr Daniel Braie.

A statement said the 5th edition of the ‘Top 25 CEOs & Next Bulls Award,’ which took place in Lagos recently, was one of the stock barometer awards structured by Businessday Media in association with the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

The organisers of the award said the companies impacted positively on investors at the  NSE in the 2018 financial year.

“These companies have been honoured for contributing to the growth of the market capitalisation of quoted firms in 2018, in spite of the overall market performance ending in the negative territory, while others were celebrated for inculcating good corporate governance, innovations and raising the standards of their organisations to a point where it would be seamless if they were to be listed on the NSE today,” the organisers said.

As reflected in its theme, it stated, “A bull is the condition in financial market where the prices of a group of securities are rising or expected to rise.”

The recipients of the awards thanked the organisers for the recognition.

Somefun stated, “The bank in 2017 chose the tough but right path and resolved its legacy issues. This bold action achieved notable points, including reduction of non- performing loan ratio to zero per cent; full de-risking of our balance sheet to remove toxic assets, total clean-up of our books and records as well as helping to fully mitigate the adverse impact of IFRS-9.”

Braie,  also stated, “As a company, we are committed to sustaining the rules and regulations of the capital market, ensuring regulatory compliance and good corporate governance practice.”