LUÍS FILIPE RODRIGUES LÉLIS

IWA Team

October 27, 2026

LUÍS FILIPE RODRIGUES LÉLIS
CEO, BANCO BAI

When Luís Filipe Rodrigues Lélis took the helm of Banco Angolano de Investimentos (BAI) in 2017, Angola’s financial sector was on the brink of deep transformation. The macroeconomic landscape was demanding, digitalisation was only beginning to take shape, and investor confidence needed fresh, credible benchmarks. Looking back, it’s hard to overlook the scale of the legacy forged during his tenure.

Lélis’s leadership brought a new tempo—and a sharper posture. He arrived with a clear purpose: to ensure BAI was not merely larger, but genuinely more modern, more transparent, and better equipped to compete in a fast-evolving and increasingly exacting economy.

What followed was a restructuring that was felt as much as it was seen. Behind the scenes, the bank strengthened corporate governance, tightened discipline across internal processes, invested decisively in talent, and—above all—stayed anchored in the pursuit of sustainable results.

His path to leadership began well before 2017. From 1996 to 1999, he served as Assistant to the Director General of Sonangol, before being invited to a secondment as Advisor to the Minister of Finance. He later held the role of Non-Executive Director at Mercury, Serviços de Telecomunicações, S.A. In 2002, he returned to Sonangol, E.P., appointed Head of the Budget and Internal Control Department within the Finance Directorate.

In 2004, he accepted an invitation to serve as Assistant to the Chairman of BAI’s Board of Directors, a position he held until early 2006, when he became Commercial Director and subsequently Coordinating Director. He was elected Director of BAI, S.A. in May 2006, and again in May 2010. He currently serves as Chairman of BAI’s Executive Committee and, in parallel, as Chairman of the Board of Directors of NOSSA Seguros, Chairman of the Board of Directors of BAI Cabo Verde, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SAESP, S.A., and Chairman of the Remuneration Committee of BAIGEST – Collective Investment Scheme Management Company, S.A. He has been Chairman of the Board of Directors of Banco BAI Europa since 2021.