The management of the Jaiz Bank Plc. has denied any rift in the Board of Directors over the planned appointment of a new Managing Director of the bank.
Recall that some section of the media had reported alleged bickering in the boardroom of the bank over the decision to halt the appointment of a new Managing Director as the tenure of the current MD, Hassan Usman, would soon elapse.
However, while addressing newsmen on Sunday, Mr Usman said there was no rift in the Board other than the “legitimate exercise of divergent opinions on a matter in the ordinary course of the Director’s duties”.
The MD recalled that, at one of the Board’s sittings, some Directors had opined that a change of leadership was required to pursue some critical strategic goals while others believed otherwise, “given the very impressive performance of the current Management”.
While noting that the Board went on to appoint a new successor in the person of Muhammad Shaheed Khan, Mr Usman, however, disclosed that the Board later rescinded on its decision at a subsequent meeting.
According to him, “the Board’s resolution to rescind its decision and subsequently discontinue the appointment process was in line with the terms and conditions of the offer letter issued to Mr Khan, since the offer was subject to relevant regulatory approvals.
“Incidentally, the approval obtained from the relevant regulator materially modified the intention of the Board as expressed in the conditional offer to Mr Khan, necessitating the Board’s decision to discontinue the process of his appointment,” the MD added.
Mr Usman, therefore, assured its customers, shareholders and investing public that the Board remained committed to conducting its affairs within the stipulations of existing Corporate Governance Codes.
