FCMB founder, Balogun dies at 89

President Muhammadu Buhari has joined Governors Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos and Dapo Abiodun of Ogun state to mourn the death of the founder of First City Monument Bank, FCMB, Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun. The President, in a statement by his spokesman, Mr Femi Adesina on Friday in Abuja, condoled with family members, friends, and associates of the revered businessman.

He noted that Balogun’s legacy of kindness and charity stretched into many homes, institutions, and communities, touching lives through education, health and multiple empowerment opportunities.

Balogun, a foremost banker, lawyer and entrepreneur, was reported to have died at the age of 89, in a London hospital, after an illness 

Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Kunle Somorin, noted that the late Olori Omo Oba of Ijebuland was one of the foremost entrepreneurs who took banking to an enviable level in the country. Abiodun said apart from being a business magnate, Balogun was a devoted Christian, a loving father and husband, as well as lover of Ijebuland. The governor said the contributions of the late banker to the socio-economic development of Ijebuland and the state was humongous and beneficial to numerous people and entities”. 

In the same vein, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, described Otunba Balogun as a renowned technocrat, seasoned administrator and philanthropist, who made a mark in the country by contributing to the growth and development of the banking sector in Nigeria. 

In a condolence message issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Gboyega Akosile, on Friday, Sanwo-Olu, commended Balogun's contribution to the economy of Nigeria as boardroom guru and employer of labour, especially as the founder of FCMB among several other companies.

On his part, a former governor of the State and the Senator-elect of Ogun East Senatorial District, Gbenga Daniel, said with the death of Otunba Subomi Balogun, Nigeria has lost an icon.

According to the former governor, "As the Asiwaju of Ijebu Christians, Otunba Subomi Balogun brought the fear of God into everything that he did and believed in, and united the Body of Christ while promoting interfaith relationships in the entire Ijebuland to the best of his ability".

It was gathered that late Balogun may have taken ill while in the United Kingdom and was admitted into a hospital last night. But another contact close to the banking chief had earlier said he was not sick when he left Nigeria for UK, but indicated that he may have developed discomfort suddenly given his age. 

Balogun who pioneered investment banking as well as indigenous financial entrepreneurship in Nigeria, was 89 years old at his last birthday. 

Balogun, a lawyer, started out as a civil servant in Justice ministry before veering into banking, first pitching with the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank in the late 1960s before joining the Icon Securities, the front runner of investment banking in Nigeria. 

In 1977, Balogun blazed the trail by founding the first indigenous private investment banking outfit, City Securities Limited, which later metamorphosed into First City Merchant Bank (FCMB) Limited in 1982 as Nigeria's first indigenous privately owned bank.

By the turn of the decade, in the 1990s, the bank had emerged a clear leader in investment banking in Nigeria despite the licensing of several others as well as other foreign and Federal Government owned investment banking institutions. Today the bank has offices across the country and with a holding structure owning FCMB (UK) Limited amongst several subsidiaries.

According to the spokespersons for the FCMB Group, the family will soon make official announcement on the passage of the banking czar.

Culled from Vanguard