Caroline Chidiebere Anyanwu
Independent Director

I am a first class graduate of Statistics, a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and a price winner in the ICAN Professional qualifying examination.  I have over 30 years experience in the Banking Industry covering: Strategic Planning, Financial Control, Retail and Commercial Banking, Banking Operations and Risk Management.  I am an Alumnus of the Harvard Business School.

To prepare and position me for the above tasks, I had the benefit of obtaining top-rated core basic and intermediate management competencies as a trainee accountant in Price Waterhouse (Chartered Accountants) - Now Price Waterhouse Coopers - from 1985 to 1988.

My exposure to the Nigerian Banking Industry commenced in African Continental Bank Ltd in 1988 in the Strategic Planning Unit from where I proceeded to join the pioneer team of Oceanic Bank International Ltd in 1990 in the Financial Control function.  As part of skill acquisition training, I was transferred to Credit and Marketing Group in January 1992 with responsibility for Retail Credit and account management and in 1993, I moved to Banking Operations function where I rose to the position of Assistant General Manager/Head of Banking Operations before leaving the Bank in September 1996.

I joined United Bank for Africa Plc in September 1996 with responsibility for International Funds Transfer and rose to head the Head Office Operations Group. I later participated in the Business Process Re-design of UBA Operational policies and procedures to improve efficiency.  In search of additional skills, I moved on to Risk Management in April 2002 where I was involved in the setting up of the Credit Risk Management framework including the implementation of Moody’s risk rating tool for Corporate obligors, the Fair Isaac scoring system for consumers and the standardization of credit products for retail customers.  I later became the Head, Credit Risk Management, a position I held until February 2006 when I left to join Diamond Bank Plc as a General Manager and Head of Group Risk Management.

In September 2009, I was appointed by the Central Bank of Nigeria as Executive Director Risk Management in Finbank Plc, one of the Banks rescued by the Central Bank of Nigeria.  During this period, I served on the Board of the Bank’s various subsidiaries as Chairman for both FinInsurance and FinBrokers and as Non-Executive Director on the Board of Finhomes Ltd, the Mortgage subsidiary of the Bank.

I returned to Diamond Bank in May 2011 as Executive Director/Chief Risk Officer and was later appointed to the position of Deputy Managing Director of the Diamond Bank Group with supervisory responsibility for Risk Management, a position I occupied till my retirement in March 2019.

I served as a representative of Diamond Bank on the Board of CRC Credit Bureau Ltd and was Chairman of the Board from May 2013 to May 2015.

My multi-disciplinary experience in banking to date has given me a well-rounded exposure in the dynamics and challenges of strategic business function in banking. This was further harnessed through various Leadership and Board trainings at the Harvard Business School, Columbia University Graduate School of Business and Institute of Management Development (IMD).