Brian Acton, co-founder of Whatsapp, the popular instant messaging (IM) platform has been appointed as the interim Chief Executive Officer of Signal Messenger LLC, another encrypted IM service whose founder, Moxie Marlinspike steps down from.

Marlinspike in a statement said that Acton will serve as Signal’s interim chief as the company is still hunting for a permanent replacement.

According to the CEO, his goal has always been for the 7-year-old company to grow and sustain beyond his involvement as chief. Disclosing why he had not been able to step down before now, Marlinspoke noted that as of four years ago, he was still the one writing all of the Android and server code for the service and was the only person on call. He was also doing all of the product development and even had to keep his laptop handy at all times in the event of a service disruption.

From the company’s inception in 2014, it has recorded over 105 million downloads globally. Signal’s service which for users can optionally function as an SMS app, can be used to make one-to-one and group audio and video calls. Its users are also able to send one-to-one and group messages, which can include files, voice notes, images and videos.

The platform boasts of approximately 40 million monthly active users. Signal states that it has been installed in over 50 million Android devices.

Speaking on the growth of the service, Marlinspike revealed that Signal currently has 30 employees comprised of engineers, designers, support staff and a leadership team. The platform’s boss also mentioned that now, he rarely writes code now and no one person is ever perpetually on call.

Marlinspike expressed that he now feels comfortable replacing himself as CEO even though his company has been searching for a new head for months. In a tweet, he said, “It’s a new year! I’ve decided it’s a good time to replace myself as the CEO of Signal”.

Through the announcement of his resignation, Marlinspike said he hopes it will help find the best person to fill the CEO spot permanently. He will still remain on the Signal board and will transition out of the CEO role to help with the search for a permanent replacement.

The interim CEO, Brian Acton’s job takes effect this week. The new head of the service who volunteered for the role had worked with Apple, Yahoo and Adobe Systems before co-founding Whatsapp with Jan Koum in 2009 and Signal Foundation with Marlinspike in 2018.

The First Bank Nigeria Holdings plc, (FBNH) has announced the appointment of three executive directors for its commercial banking arm, First Bank Nigeria Limited.

The Board of Directors in a statement by its secretary, Seye Kosoko made this known on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) website.

FBN named Olusegun Alebiosu as executive director, risk management and executive compliance officer, while the second, Oluwatosin Adewuyi is named executive director, corporate banking. Ini Ebong will be in charge of treasury and international banking as executive director.

First Bank stressed that the appointments are subject to the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Alebiosu, before his new role, was a group executive and the chief risk officer of the FirstBank Group, since 2016.

He was the chief credit officer of the African Development Bank Group (ADB). He has previously had a stint at the United Bank for Africa Plc, the defunct Omega Bank Plc, Peak Merchant Bank as well as Oceanic Bank Plc.

Mr Alebiosu is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (FCA), an associate of the Nigerian Institute of Management, a member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria and of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs.

The second executive director, Mr Adewuyi was the group executive, corporate banking at FirstBank, where he was responsible for the bank’s corporate banking business following the exit of the previous executive director.

He is a banker with over 20 years of experience covering sub-Saharan Africa. Before joining FirstBank, he worked at J.P. Morgan, where he was a managing director and had been head of its Nigeria business for eight years. He worked at Standard Bank, London for about five years and qualified as a certified chartered accountant

Mr Ebong was the Group Executive in charge of treasury and international banking at FirstBank. He was also responsible for the Structured Trade and Commodity Finance business.

Mr Ebong is a qualified architect with a BSc and MSc in Architecture from the University of Ife, First Bank revealed.

Ecobank Group, the leading pan-African Banking Group, has appointed Mr. Eric Odhiambo as Group Executive, Corporate & Investment Banking following Akin Dada attaining retirement age.

Mr. Akin Dada, the Group Executive, Corporate & Investment Banking recently retired from the Ecobank Group having reached the retirement age of 60. In line with the Group’s succession plan, Mr. Eric Odhiambo has been appointed as Group Executive, Corporate & Investment Banking to replace Akin Dada. Eric was the Group Chief Risk Officer since September 2017, prior to this appointment.

Prior to his retirement, Akin Dada had over 30 years of banking experience in client coverage, strategic transaction initiation and advisory dialogues across various client segments, including public sector, telecoms, FMCG and oil and gas. He joined the Ecobank Group in 2017 after 26 years with Citigroup in various roles in the Corporate & Investment Banking as Senior Transactor, Senior Relationship Banker and Business Development Manager. While at Citi, he handled a wide array of transactions in Loan Syndications, Project Finance, Corporate Finance and Advisory, and was Managing Director for Citigroup Cameroon.

Eric Odhiambo Profile

The new Group Executive, Corporate & Investment Banking, Eric Odhiambo, joined the Ecobank Group in September 2017 as Group Chief Risk Officer. This followed 14 years with Citigroup in various senior management roles including Head Risk Analysis and Remedial Management, Country Risk Manager, Regional Head of Risk Management in Africa and Turkey & the CIS and was also a Senior Credit Officer, among other roles.

He led various credit structuring and approvals from an Independent Risk point of view while also participating with deal teams from Corporate & Investment Banking, Corporate Finance, Project Finance, Derivative Structures and Trade Transaction Services in actualising transactions. Eric provided continuous coaching and on-the-job training to Credit Officers across the businesses, reviewing and assigning credit limits. Eric has served on various Bank Board positions as a Non- Executive Director including his current role as an NED on the Board of Ecobank Nigeria.

He is strongly focused on business development and brings a wealth of experience to our Corporate and Investment Banking segment. He also previously worked with Atlas Mara and with ABN AMRO Bank in Kenya, during his 30 years banking career.

Ade Ayeyemi, CEO, Ecobank Group said: “In the last five years with Ecobank, Akin has made very impactful contributions. His invaluable and varied experience over many years in corporate banking, as well as his broader knowledge of banking, credit and risk management, ideally positioned him to lead our Group Corporate and Investment Banking business. I thank Akin for his significant contributions and wish him a very happy and fruitful retirement.”

In congratulating Eric Odhiambo on his new role, Ade Ayeyemi stated: “Eric is a vastly knowledgeable banker with strong expertise in business development, credit structuring and understanding as well as risk management. He has immense capacity to ensure the realisation of the strategic goals of our Corporate & Investment Banking business in the areas of loans, trade finance, advisory services and cross-border payments. I have no doubt that the strong leadership that he exhibited as our Group Chief Risk Officer in the last four years, will be replicated in his new
role”.