The newly appointed Managing Director of the oldest indigenous commercial bank in the country, Sierra Leone Commercial Bank (SLCB), Yusufu Abdul Silla will today Monday 31st January, 2022 assume office to the delight of the entire staff.

Yusufu Abdul Silla is a well-qualified and result-oriented Financial Services and Banking professional with over fifteen (15) years of successful experience in positions of increasing responsibilities and duties.

The proficient gentleman is also a top performer with an enviable track record of consistently meeting and mostly exceeding set targets and customer expectations. In addition, Yusufu A. Silla is exceptional in educating customers on Mortgage and Banking products and recommending best options that meet their needs. He is also a team player with well-polished communication skills, good interpersonal relations, verbal, written, presentation and rapport building respectively.

The new Managing Director is also richly endowed with the following skills: a good leader, self-sufficient, goal-oriented, people-oriented, excellent time management skills, analytical, cheerful, savvy relationship-building, highly motivated and positive, excellent verbal and written skills, team player and can prioritize workload respective.

With regards job history, Yusufu Silla served as Acting Managing Director from September 2019 – September 2020 and Managing Director from 2020 to date at the Commerce and Mortgage Bank Plc. During that period, he was charged with the responsibility of stabilising and turning around the bank which was running at a loss and almost about to collapse due to poor management in the past.

Consequently, he succeeded in leading the Bank to turn its fortune around and moving performance from a loss position of Le28billion to a profit before tax of Le14.6 billion as reported in the Bank’s 2020 Audited Financial Statement.

Mr. Silla was also Director of Business Development from January 2016 – September 2019 at the Commerce and Mortgage Bank Plc. In this capacity, he reported directly to the Managing Director and was primarily charged with developing the commercial banking business after the company had secured a banking license. He succeeded in growing the bank’s commercial client portfolio by 30% during his tenure in this role.

The new Managing Director was also Director of Credit Management from January 2013 – January 2016 at the HFC Mortgage and Savings SL LTD on 30 Liverpool Street in Freetown respectively. In this capacity, he was primarily responsible for the entire credit granting process, including the consistent application of the company’s credit policy, periodic credit reviews of existing customers, and the assessment of the credit worthiness of potential customers, with the goal of optimizing the mix of company sales and bad debt losses.

As Head of Mortgages, Mr. Silla was principally responsible for setting up the Mortgage Department and for introducing the concept of Mortgage Finance into the Sierra Leone's lending space. This introduced recruiting and training of staff and creating the relevant mortgage operations, credit and insurance manuals.

Mr. Silla was also Senior Mortgage Consultant from January 2005 – July 2008 at the Britannia Finance and Mortgage Limited – 252 Belsize Road, London, NW6 4BT, and Mortgage Consultant from January 2004 – July 2005 at Clarence House Financial Limited - Richmond Surrey TW9 2JN.

The new Managing Director has an excellent educational background befitting an academic. From 2001-2003, Mr. Silla graduated from the London Metropolitan University with a Master of Science in International Banking and Finance. He has vast knowledge in International Finance, Banking Operations and Strategy, Domestic and International Banking, Corporate Finance, Research Methods, Portfolio Management and Quantitative Methods, macroeconomics.

Between 1991 and 1996, Mr. Silla graduated from the oldest University South of the Sahara, Fourah Bay College (FBC), University of Sierra Leone (USL) with a Bachelor of Science in Pure Economics with Honours.

He is also versatile in Macroeconomics Analysis, Microeconomic Analysis, Quantitative methods, Development Economics and Business Methods.

Mr. Silla was also an active student government representative and one of the shakers and movers of the FBC Students’ Union Government during the war years.

The new Managing Director also did professional training and came out with flying colours, including Certificate (Credit Assessment Tools & Techniques) National Banking College, Ghana, April 2009, Certificate (African Perspective on Real Estate & Housing Finance) National
Banking College, Ghana, February 2009, and CeMAP (Certificate in Mortgaging Advice and Practice) Institute of Financial Services, May 2004 respectively.

It could be recalled that prior to Mr. Silla’s appointment, Mr. Bockarie Kalokoh, who is now the Deputy Minister of Finance II, was the Acting Managing Director of the SLCB following the sudden death of the substantial holder, the late Fidelis Turay of blessed memory.