Mohammed Hayatu-Deen: Turn Around Banker
Mohammed Hayatu-Deen is, perhaps, the first Nigerian Bank managing director to turn around a sick and dying financial institution. In 1992, Hayatu-Deen assumed office with the special task of transforming the moribund Federal Savings Bank into a viable and profitable commercial bank. He successfully did this and today, FSB International has become one of the high-flying banks in Nigeria measured by any indicator.
The bank has been position as an efficient provider of banking services locally and it has done so by investing heavily in leading edge technology. This has enabled it to offer premium services to its high-brow clients. Electronic banking that grants customers easy access to their accounts from their offices is in operation at the FSB. It also offers real time on-line services which enable their customers transact their business from any of its branches. Such services enables it to retain existing clients while attracting new ones.
FSB under Hayatu-Deen is quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and its performance is quite commendable. The bank was one of the first to meet the new N500 million is quite for banks set by the Central Bank of Nigeria. In the financial year that ended March 31 1997, the bank had a balance sheet of N3.90 deposits of N3.49 billion and a loan portfolio of N1.63 billion. Its gross income was N1.47 billion reflecting a growth of 87 percent while profit before tax rose by 67 percent to N509 million. The growth has been consistent in the last six years.
The bank, in league with 18 other banks, is promoting the smart card consortium-Smart Card Nigeria Plc, aimed at providing a safer and less burdensome alternative payment system. With 16 percent of the equity of the consortium, the bank is the second highest stakeholder in the company. The project is due for take-off in June this year.
Similarly, FSB is one of the 11 banks that have invested N250 million in Pioneer Currency Sorting Company Limited which, when it take off, would operate from eight centres to service the Nigerian banking industry. FSB also has investments in First Security Discount House Limited, the first and leading discount house in the country. FSB was recently selected as lead manager of N700 million syndication loan for the Nigerian Security Printing, and Minting Company to enable it purchase a new machine readable passport that would soon be commissioned.
FSB is not just interested in investing in computers, the bank has launched its own website on the Internet and introduced electronic mail technology both within and outside the band in order to enhance communication and transform it into a paperless institution. Hayatu-Deen is one of the moving-spirits behind the Nigerian Economic Summit that has set the agenda for restructuring the Nigerian economy and putting it on a firm foundation. The Nigerian Economic Summit served as a precursor of the Vision 2010 where Hayatu-Deen also played a prominent role.
Interestingly, he is self-effacing and unwilling to beat his chest as some Nigerian top managers are wont to do. He had earlier worked in the Northern Nigerian. Development Company where he retired as managing director. He set up a private consulting firm which he managed before coming to FSB.
Newswatch June 29, 1998
" Newswatch 1998