Chidi Okpala

Chidi Okpala is Executive Director, Personal and Business Banking, at United Bank for Africa Plc, where he provides strategic and operational oversight for the Bank’s Consumer, SME and Branch Banking franchise nationwide. His responsibilities include driving deposit mobilisation, consumer and SME lending growth, customer experience enhancement, digital channel expansion, productivity optimisation and disciplined risk management across the network. He also oversees transformation initiatives aimed at strengthening the Bank’s retail leadership and long-term profitability.

He brings over 30 years of professional experience spanning retail banking, digital financial services, payments, fintech and corporate strategy across multiple markets in Africa and the Middle East.

Over the course of his career, he has held progressively senior leadership roles in strategy consulting, retail banking management, digital financial services and investment portfolio oversight. He has led multi-country retail banking businesses, founded and scaled digital financial services platforms across Africa, and served at executive and board levels overseeing technology and healthcare enterprises. His career reflects a consistent record of business growth, innovation and large-scale operational execution.

Mr. Okpala has served on the boards of financial services, technology and healthcare institutions, and currently serves as a Trustee of an international humanitarian organisation.

A Chevening Scholar, he holds a BSc from Enugu State University, an MBA from the University of Nigeria and a Sloan MSc from London Business School.