Ecobank poaches Absa Ghana boss as substantive MD

Ecobank Ghana PLC has announced the appointment of Abena Osei-Poku as its substantive Managing Director and Regional Executive for the Anglophone West Africa (AWA) Region of the Ecobank Group.

Until her appointment, Abena was the CEO of Absa Ghana. Her Ecobank appointment took effect from January 1, 2024.

She takes over from Joana Mensah, who is the immediate past Acting Managing Director, a position she assumed from August 15, 2023, following the retirement of the former Managing Director, Dan Sackey.

Mrs. Osei-Poku is an accomplished Pan-African business leader with over 25 years of experience in the financial services industry.

Her expertise spans Corporate and Investment banking, Business banking and Risk Management at the regional level.

She started her career as a private banker with First Atlantic Merchant Bank. She later joined Standard Chartered Bank Ghana as an Assistant Relationship Manager and then became the Credit Manager for Multinational Corporates.

She subsequently served as the Head of the Group Special Assets Risk Management (SARM) department in Ghana from 2001 – 2002, and thereafter took up oversight responsibility for the West Africa and Central Africa regions. In 2005, she became the Director for Global Corporates, Wholesale Bank.

After spending 10 years at Standard Chartered Bank Ghana, she was appointed by Barclays Bank Ghana as the Executive Director for Commercial Banking, responsible for Corporate & Business Banking.

Abena Osei-Poku became the Co-Regional Head of Coverage, Corporate & Investment Banking at Absa Bank Group (formerly Barclays Bank) in 2016 overseeing East and West Africa.

She was later appointed as CEO and Managing Director of Absa Bank Ghana, a position she held until her recent appointment by Ecobank. She has broad board level experience, having previously sat on boards in telecommunications, banking, commerce, and hospitality.

She is currently the Chairperson of the Advisory Board of the College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana and the outgoing Chairperson for the Council of the Ghana Stock Exchange.

In addition, she is an Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers as well as an Honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana and serves on other executive fora.

Abena Osei-Poku holds an MBA from Manchester Business School, UK and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Statistics from the University of Ghana.