Nigeria's Afribank appointed an executive director in charge of risk management, amid concern among analysts over high operational and credit risk in the country's banking sector. "The expansion of the operational structure has led to the creation of risk management and strategy as an executive portfolio," Afribank said in a statement on Thursday, naming Henry Arogundade, previously general manager of commercial banking, to the post. Banks in Nigeria are expanding at an unprecedented rate, with strong economic growth fuelling demand from corporate clients and from a growing middle class. Some analysts fear banks' risk management capabilities may lag their explosive growth.

 Ratings agency Standard & Poor's said in March it considered the Nigerian banking sector to be of high risk, citing an unstable political environment, poor corporate governance and infrastructural deficiencies. Afribank, one of Nigeria's top ten banks by assets, recently completed a public share offer which increased its capital base to 140 billion naira ($1.1 billion). The commercial and retail bank, which has more than 250 branches in Nigeria, posted profit after tax of 7.5 billion naira ($57 million) for the nine months to Dec. 31, 2007, a 207 percent rise on the same period a year earlier. Competition in the sector is fierce after reforms which led to a reduction in the number of banks to 24 from 89 and most have been scaling up, tapping international and local markets to raise more than $10 billion in capital last year alone. A second round of consolidation is expected by many analysts. Afribank also said it had appointed a new chairman -- former Nigerian stock exchange council member Osa Osunde -- after the retirement of his predecessor.