Standard Chartered has appointed Dalu Ajene as the Chief Executive Officer of the Bank’s operations in Africa. He will also head the Coverage for Africa.
Before the appointment, Dalu served as the CEO of Standard Chartered Nigeria, a role he assumed in April 2024.
Under his leadership, he is credited with leading the Bank to achieve strong year-on-year financial performance, including meeting the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) recapitalisation requirement of ₦200 billion for national commercial banks ahead of the March 2026 deadline.
Before joining Standard Chartered, he was the CEO of Rand Merchant Bank Nigeria.
The appointment of Dalu, who has over 25 years of experience in the global financial services sector, is a testament to the Bank’s established culture of promoting excellence and assurance of its esteemed stakeholders in the Nigerian financial industry.
Speaking on his appointment, Dalu said, “This transition reflects the strength of our franchise, the resilience of our teams, and the impact we have delivered in a period of significant change and development.”
Dalu holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School and is reputed as a leader passionate about driving a culture of high-performance centred around people empowerment to deliver best-in-class service to clients and robust financial outcomes for stakeholders. Dalu takes over from Kariuki Ngari, who served as CEO, Africa and Sarmad Lone’s Africa Coverage portfolio.