The Banking CEO Who Earned N245M in 6 Months: Demola Sogunle

Demola Sogunle, the Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic IBTC Holdings PLC with over 25 years of experience in the Nigerian banking industry earned N245 million as emolument in the first half of 2022. This signifies an increase from N205 million recorded in the corresponding period of 2021.

The CEO’s earning was scooped from data obtained from the financial statements of Stanbic IBTC Bank for the second quarter of 2022. Sogunle who holds a First-Class Honours degree in Agricultural Science and a PhD in Land Resource Evaluation and Management, both from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, is driving growth and financial inclusion through Stanbic Bank. 

While his strong agricultural background is fascinating, let’s take a quick look at several other things about him.

He is the second largest shareholder at Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc

Sogunle recently increased his stake in Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc. Reports show that Sogunle acquired 1.52 million shares between the 21st-23rd of March 2023. The Bank Chief paid N56.35 million to purchase the 1.52 million shares on the Nigerian stock exchange. The purchase raises his total stake in the firm to 4.93 million which is worth N185.70 million.

With this acquisition, Sogunle is the second largest company shareholder, behind Ifeoma Esiri, who holds 40.38 million direct shares and 3.11 million indirect.

He was first appointed as a Treasurer

Sogunle’s biography revealed that his first appointment at Stanbic was in the Treasurer position of Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC.  From being a Treasurer, Sogunle also served as the Group Head of Risk and Chief Compliance Officer of Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC. 

Years later, he was appointed as the Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited. His performance in this role was reportedly remarkable and led to his appointment as Deputy Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Bank PLC in December 2015.

Sogunle has spent over 23 years at Stanbic

The bank CEO has been at Stanbic for over 23 years. According to reports, he served as Treasurer from February 2000 to November 2007. This means that he had been in the bank before his first appointment. Over the past 23 years, Sogunle has served as the Head of Treasury and Financial Services, Head of Risk Management and Chief Compliance Officer.

He also took on responsibilities that cut across managing Stanbic IBTC Bank’s Correspondent Banking Relationship, overseeing the liability side of the bank’s balance sheet, monitoring IBTC Chartered Bank’s Money Market desk and Foreign Exchange trading and monitoring portfolios for governments.

He was interrogated by lawmakers from Nigeria’s lower legislative chamber in 2018

Like every bank CEO Sogunle has also faced some challenges with authorities. One such was when Stanbic IBTC Bank was accused of keeping $4.9 million (about N1 billion) outside the Treasury Single Account (TSA) in May 2018. The House of Representatives ad-hoc committee was investigating the status and level of compliance to the TSA by commercial banks and government agencies when it found out that Stanbic Bank was defaulting. 

According to reports, the money belonged to the HYPREP (Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project) Account of the Federal Ministry of Environment. Sogunle was therefore summoned to the chamber. He however defended himself with the argument that Stanbic IBTC Bank secured a presidential approval before operating the controversial HYPREP account.

Sogunle’s Stanbic was fined N1.8billion by CBN

Stanbic Bank was punished for helping MTN Communications Nigeria Limited illegally repatriate $8.1 billion to its MTN Group Limited between 2008 and 2016. Despite efforts to defend itself from the allegation, the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN) deducted the N1.8 billion from Stanbic IBTC Bank’s accounts.