Gerald Warui was perhaps the few remnant persons who had served Equity Group in its heyday as a building society having first joined the now mega regional bank in 1998 and rose to helm its local and largest subsidiary Equity Bank Kenya.
Starting off during the lender’s humble beginnings likely saw Mr Warui work closely and brush shoulders with ‘King James’ —the long-serving Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
On Friday, Equity announced that Mr Warui had decided to call it a day at the bank through ‘early retirement’ and appointed the group’s chief finance and strategy execution officer Moses Nyabanda to hold the position on an interim basis.
The replacement of Mr Warui is perhaps indicative of revolving doors at the top of Equity Group’s management, coming hot on the heels of the departure of Mary Wamae who served as an executive director and who at one point had been seen as a possible successor to Mr Mwangi.
Mr Warui has largely stayed private and hardly granted media interviews despite always gracing the bank’s investor and shareholder briefings, sitting beside Mr Mwangi who largely runs the show.
He has however served as a competent executive rising through the ranks alongside Equity’s own expansion story from being a small lender to becoming a regional behemoth.
For instance, Warui was part of the team that saw the conversion of Equity Building Society into a full-fledged commercial bank in 2004 and its subsequent listing on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in 2006.
During his 25 years at the bank, Warui had served as the director of operations and as the director of human resources and customer experience.
The career banker holds an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
He is a certified public accountant (CPA (K)) and a graduate of the Advanced Management Program from Strathmore-IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain.
Mr Warui was serving as the group director of operations and customer service before he took the corner office at the Kenyan banking subsidiary.
He has vast experience in banking having served various employers in a variety of roles for the past three decades.
The exit of Mr Warui comes at the end of a turbulent week for Equity after news broke about a suspected conspiracy scheme that defrauded the lender of Sh1.5 billion from its payroll accounts.
The funds were meant for employees’ salaries and other emoluments with preliminary investigations indicating that the credentials used to process the transactions belonged to David Kimani – Equity Bank’s manager at the Group Processing Center, Salary Processing Unit. The matter remains in court as investigations continue.
The exit of Mr Warui and Ms Wamae represents the end of service for some of the bank’s long-serving executives.
Mr Mwangi however remains in charge of the holding company, providing overall strategic direction and oversight for the Kenyan operation and other subsidiaries.
Mr Mwangi has nevertheless been the subject of speculation as to when he will hand over the top job but has insisted that he is keen on staying the course, likening himself to American businessman, investor, and chairperson and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Warren Buffet who is currently aged 93.
Equity Group’s executive management team has evolved from featuring mostly Kenyan professionals and now includes senior managers drawn from different parts of the world.
The new faces in the executive suite at Equity over recent years include Brent Malahay – Group Chief Strategy Officer, Gertrude Karugaba – Chief Legal Officer and Thelma Kganakga who serves as the Chief Information Security Officer.
The group executive management team oversees country units’ management, licenses, and businesses which are broken down into branches, regions, and departments. The team is meanwhile under the wings of board committees.
