ne of Nigeria’s top rated bankers and Managing Director of GT Bank, Tayo Aderinokun is dead. He passed on in a hospital in the United Kingdom yesterday afternoon after a battle with an undisclosed ailment. He was aged 56. Aderionkun was rumoured dead about two months ago after he slipped into coma. He obtained his first degree in Business Administration from the University of Lagos; he also had an MBA with special concentration on International Business from the Graduate School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles.

He started work at the Central Bank of Nigeria in Calabar, where he did his National Youth Service between 1977 and 1978. His professional career also saw him working with Chase Merchant Bank Nigeria Ltd (later renamed Continental Merchant Bank) from 1981 to 1988. From there he moved to Prime Merchant Bank Ltd as an Assistant General Manager. He rose to the position of Head of the financial services division of the Bank. He co-founded Guaranty Trust Bank Plc where he served as Deputy Managing Director in 1990 and he became the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer in August 2002, a position he held till he died.

RIP Tayo