SUNU Bank Togo: Benito Fado replaces Myriam Adotevi as Managing Director
Tuesday, 09 January 2024 17:46 
(Togo First) - Myriam Adotevi passed the baton to Benito Fado as managing director of SUNU Bank Togo.
Adotevi has been the bank’s managing director since 2018 and under her leadership, SUNU Bank Togo transformed remarkably.
Over the five years she led the company, its total resources have doubled and its total balance sheet has quadrupled. Also, the bank rose to become the country’s top eight bank, out of 15 lenders. The bank’s net banking income also doubled under her reign.
Shock therapy
Before Myriam Adotevi’s arrival, Sunu, formerly Banque Populaire pour l’Epargne et le Crédit (BPEC), had indicators in the red. By 2020, however, the lender started showing improvements. That year, Sunu Bank Togo recorded its first profit–CFA249 million–since its acquisition. This was the bank’s second profitable year since 2014. In 2021 and 2022, the lender consolidated its performances, with profits standing at CFA759 million and CFA503 million, respectively.
Other improved indicators include assets, which grew from CFA97 billion to CFA132 billion in 2020, and CFA155 billion in 2021. The balance sheet total rose to CFA190 billion in 2022.
Meanwhile, shareholders' equity was reduced, to around CFA11 billion. This drop, however, was for a good cause, as it aligned with Sunu’s recovery efforts, which mainly involved a two-pronged capital reduction/increase operation.
Firstly, Sunu Bank reduced its capital from CFA20.8 billion by writing down the nominal value of its shares by more than 50%, from CFA10,000 to CFA4,500. It then made a public offering via an operation arranged by Société de Gestion et d'Intermédiation (SGI-Togo) to raise CFA1.8 billion and increase its capital by issuing 400,000 new shares at CFA4,500 each. The operation was a near-success for SUNU Investment Holding. The bank has since relied on this tandem to clean out its stables.
SUNU Investment Holding holds 71.64% of SUNU Bank Togo and owns Sunu Assurances, a heavyweight in Togo's insurance sector.
Recapitalization, QoS, loans, acquisitions
Benito Fado officially took over the head of SUNU Bank Togo on January 2, 2024. Before Myriam Adotevi left, he was the bank’s Deputy Managing Director. He will work to consolidate the bank’s results and help it thrive. Maintaining customer service quality is another priority he will tackle as well.
Fado, a former executive at Ecobank Development Corporation (EDC), the Ecobank Group's investment and capital markets subsidiary, will face the challenge of recapitalizing the bank to comply with the new CFA20 billion share capital standard imposed by the BCEAO in the banking sector. Moreover, Sunu Bank, which has positioned itself for the takeover of UTB, a public bank in difficulty, will have to pursue this project while maintaining the financing of the economy, which constitutes the core of its business, and assume its digital transformation, notably with WhatsApp Banking, which the bank is almost pioneering in Togo, assisted by Semoa.
Myriam Adotevi is the new General Manager of SUNU Investment Holding, the SUNU Group's bank holding company.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
