Nigerian, Ade Ayeyemi takes over from Ghana’s Albert Essien as new group Chief Executive of the Pan-African bank Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.

The bank stated on Monday that, the 52-year-old Ayeyemi, who is currently head of Citigroup's sub-Saharan Africa division, will replace Albert Essien who retires at the end of June.

Essien’s reign as group CEO began in March 2014 after the Ecobank board fired his predecessor, Thierry Tanoh.

Ayeyemi will be leading a bank headquartered in neighbouring Togo but has operations in 36 African countries. According to the company’s website, its assets run into $22.5 billion as at December 2013.

South Africa's Nedbank acquired a 20-percent stake in Ecobank last year and Qatar National Bank (QNB) also holds a similar stake in the company.

"We are delighted to have secured Ade as the person to lead Ecobank through the next phase of its development and beyond as a world-class pan-African bank," Ecobank group Chairman Emmanuel Ikazoboh said.

The bank is currently appealing two court decisions of wrongful dismissal and defamation, both won by the former CEO, Thierry Tanoh in Togo and Ivory Coast respectively.