Kenya’s privately owned bank, Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA), on Monday appointed Jeremy Ngunze as the new Chief Executive Officer for Kenya to steer the bank’s regional expansion plans.Jeremy Ngunze, who served as the Group Head-Business Management since 2009, takes over from Isaac Awuondo who will take on the role of Group CEO, as the bank continues to grow and expand beyond Kenya and Tanzania to countries including Uganda and Rwanda. “As we continue upgrading our systems to accommodate cross border transactions and future expansion, we are extremely confident that Jeremy is best placed to take up this position given his extensive experience in the banking industry that spans over 20 years and his excellent leadership qualities,” Awuondo said in a statement issued in Nairobi.Prior to joining CBA, Ngunze held several senior management positions at Standard Chartered Bank. He was the Executive Director Consumer Banking in Kenya, Zambia & Gambia and a Senior Manager, supporting the Group Executive Director North East Asia (SCB) in Hong Kong.He holds an MBA from University of Manchester and Bachelor of Commerce from University of Nairobi. “My immediate focus will be to redefine the role of the Kenyan business as the anchor to the Group. We have made significant investments in the last couple of years in technology, people and channels,” Ngunze said.“We need to leverage these investments as well as continue to deepen partnerships with our customers. This will give us the ability to yield consistent results for the bank and increase capacity to ensure that our regional expansion plans come to fruition”.Awuondo, who previously served as Managing Director, will proceed in focusing on strategic management of the Group that will include overseeing overall Group, shared services, risk management and performance management.
