Bank of India, in Uganda, has hired Israel Opio as its Head of Risk Management. The appointment is subject to regulatory approvals.
Israel is a seasoned risk management expert who among other roles served as the Chairman of Uganda Bankers Association’s Risk Committee in 2021.
Uganda Bankers’ Association (UBA) is an umbrella organisation for financial institutions licensed and supervised by the Bank of Uganda. Established in 1981, UBA is currently made up of 26 commercial banks, 2 development Banks and 8 Tier 2 & Tier 3 Financial Institutions.
From March 2022 to July 2023 he was the Head of Risk, Compliance and Finance for Kuda Technologies Ltd. Kudos is the biggest Nigerian Fintech but has its headquarters in London.
Before that, he was the Chief Risk Officer for Ecobank Uganda where he was a key player in helping the bank reduce its non-performing loans and operational losses, which subsequently helped the bank reverse its 7-year loss-making streak. His Risk Department won an award as the Best Department in 2015.
He also worked in dfcu Bank as the Ag Head of Risk and Compliance between April 2012 and March 2014.
Prior to that, he worked at Absa Bank Uganda (May 2008 to March 2012 ) as Risk and Internal Control Manager.
His first employment was in Tropical Bank between (February 2004 to May 2008) in the Finance, Operations and Internal Audit.
A graduate of Makerere University, Opio, also holds an MBA from the Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University.
He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA-UK), Opio is also a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) and the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA-Uganda Chapter).