By Mackie M. Jalloh
The name Usman Ishiaka, Former Managing Director of the United Bank for Arica (UBA) Sierra Leone, will forever be remembered in the history of the development of the UBA in Sierra Leone. Mr. Usman Isiaka was appointed to take over from Mr. Chinedu Obeta as the new MD/CEO of the bank in Sierra Leone.
Usman Isiaka is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and a consummate banker, with over two decades banking experience at senior management level, cutting across Internal Control, Audit, Compliance, Risk Management, Operations, Marketing and Business Development functions. He joined UBA Group in 2000, and has since served in various roles, namely: Internal Control & Audit functions, Group Head, Internal Control; Director, Audit & Control UBA Africa, and Deputy Group Chief Inspector at different points in time – a responsibility that provided him field work experience across 21 out of the 23 presence countries of UBA Group, before he was moved into sales and marketing function in January 2014.
Since the switch, Usman has served as the Deputy Managing Director of UBA Ghana, between January 2014 and May 2016; Regional Bank Head in Lagos (Nigeria); overseeing marketing and business development functions in a total of 56 branches between June 2016 and February 2018, and thereafter, as MD/CEO of UBA Tanzania from March 2018, before his posting to UBA Sierra Leone, as Country CEO.
Usman Isiaka came with a wealth of experiences and has been able to position the UBA as a leading and dominant financial institution in Sierra Leone, in line with the Group’s aspiration.
During his tenure in Sierra Leone, Usman Isiaka developed a wonderful relationship with customers CSOs and the media, and was able to introduce new innovative measures to enhance education with the organisation of essay competitions of school going pupils, a key program that resonates well with the education agenda of the government. Under his leadership the UBA bagged several prestigious awards both in Sierra Leone and internationally. Today, the UBA is a household name in the country.
UBA Sierra Leone is a member of UBA Group, a pan African financial institution with presence in 20 African countries and 3 global financial service centres; namely New York, London and Paris, providing services to over 18 million customers across over 1000 branches and touch points.
