Guaranty Trust Bank (Gambia) recently bade farewell to their outgoing managing director, Lekan Sansui, at a cocktail reception held at the Coco Ocean Hotel in Kerr Serign.
Mr Sansui, who served from 2006 to 2011 as managing director of GTBank, has since been replaced by Olufemi Omotoso, as the new GTBank boss.
Speaking to reporters at the farewell party, the outgoing MD revealed that his next appointment is Ghana.
He said he was very much happy to serve as the bank’s MD in The Gambia whilst praising the hospitality of the Gambian people.
He also thanked the staff of the bank in The Gambia for their hard work and support rendered to him which resulted in them producing a good result for the bank during his tenure.
According to him, in terms of asset, in 2006 he met a balance sheet of D470 million, adding that by the end of that year, they were able to grow it to D950 million.
“As we speak today balance sheet is in the region of D2.6 billion,” he said. “In terms of profitability, in his first year, the bank made D28 million as profit.”
The outgoing GTBank boss added that in 2007 they made a profit of D59 million whilst in 2010 the bank made D80 million as profit.
He added that they have been producing sound results in assets and profits over the years.
When he came in 2006, the bank had only four branches in the country but today they have 15 branches throughout the country while the 16th branch is currently under construction, he said.
He noted that the bank has also grown in terms of number of employees from less than 100 employees in 2006 to 250 employees this year.
On tax matter, he noted that the bank has been paying good tax wages to the Gambia Revenue Authority, adding that they are among the large tax payers in the country.
Mr Sanusi described his successor as a highly qualified and competent person. “He is coming with a wealth of knowledge, which is quite formidable and he has been Managing Director GTBank in Liberia,” he explained.
For his part, the new MD of GTBank, Olufemi Omotoso, promised to continue the good work of his predecessor.
He stated that his priority would be to harness the opportunity of the bank. “The challenges are already there; we have about thirteen banks in the industry, but we are well vast in tackling the challenges,” he remarked.
“Challenges in Liberia are not the same in The Gambia; The Gambia is peaceful and is a tourist-based attraction centre.”
He revealed that he spent two years six months in Liberia and prior to that he had also served the bank in Nigeria for 15 years.
He commended his predecessor for taking the bank from a very low level to where it is today in terms of size, profitability and other indices.
Babou Gaye, Corporate Services Manager, described the outgoing MD as a great man whom they would greatly miss.
“Lekan is a very good oriented person and has impacted a wealth of knowledge to the staff of the bank and build our confidence,” he said.
