Kola Ayeye was the Managing Director/CEO of the former National Bank from 2003 to 2005. Between 2007 and 2009, he was Executive Director, Oceanic Bank International Plc (Lagos & West) where he supervised 150 branches in seven States - Lagos, Kwara, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti.
He has performed with distinction in various management positions in a number of other banks including Commercial Bank (Credit Lyonnais); International Merchant Bank (IMB); United Bank of Africa; and Guaranty Trust Bank. In these places, he was widely exposed to corporate finance, financial planning & control, investment banking, international banking, oil & gas and corporate banking & Treasury among others.
Prior to his highly rewarding banking career, he joined Ernst & Young International as an Audit Trainee in 1985 and later moved to International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in 1987 as Audit Senior.
He graduated from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka with a second class upper degree in Accountancy (1984) and also holds a Masters in Science Degree in Finance in 1986 from the University of Lagos.
A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN), Kola has attended several international executive courses at the Institute of Management Development, (IMD), Lausanne, Switzerland, Lagos Business School (LBS) and Arthur D Little Management Education Institute, Boston, Massachusetts.