Access Bank Plc has appointed Mr. Hassan Usman, founder and CEO of New Frontier Limited as an independent non-executive director of the bank following the approval of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Usman is the Founder/Chief Executive Officer of New Frontier Development Limited, an investment company focused on financial advisory, hospitality, real estate and proprietary investments in start-ups and challenged companies in the SME space.
In a notification to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Access Bank said, prior to Usman’s founding of New Frontiers, he was the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Aso Savings and Loans Plc and an Executive Director at Abuja Investment and Property Development Company Limited.
Commenting on the appointment, the Chairman of Access Bank Plc, Dr. (Mrs.) Ajoritsedere Awosika, said: “We are very delighted to be joined by Usman, a leader with a rich blend of academic, entrepreneurial and public sector experiences which are all relevant to the needs of our board.”
Usman is coming with a hands-on experience in public and private sectors. His New Frontiers is an investment company with interests in financial advisory, hospitality, real estate and propriety investments in start-ups.
Before his stint as an Executive Director (Investments) at Abuja Investment and Property Development Limited, he was the Head of Structured and Cross-border Finance Team of Citibank Nigeria, where he worked for 7 years until 2000 when he joined the Bureau of Public Enterprises as a privatisation adviser for 4 years.
He also worked for 3 years within the Financial Markets Division of Arthur Andersen S.C. London. He has served on the boards of major corporations, including NITEL, Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Company (NMRC) as well as on the council of the Nigeria Stock Exchange.
He is a graduate of Economics from the University of Sussex, and an M. Phil in Development Economics from Darwin College, University of Cambridge.
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, and a Registered US National Association of Securities Dealers Series 7 Investment Banking Representative.
He is an Eisenhower Fellow (2007) and an African Leadership Institute( Bishop Desmond Tutu Fellow).
