First City Monument Bank(FCMB) Group Plc has applauded its founder, Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun for its Impactful investment in the group which has a positive trickle down effect on the entire banking sector.
The firm, in a statement to commemorate Otunba Balogun for clocking 89 years on earth yesterday, appreciated the founder who is passionate about investment and humanity and the fortune his investment in FCMB Group has brought to the company to the pinnacle of the financial services in the country.
His investment, the group noted, has make the group and its subsidiaries competitive and excelled in all sectors they are playing, thereby, giving good investment returns to shareholders, outstanding and superior services to customers while meeting the needs of all stakeholders.
In the statement made available to LEADERSHIP, the firm said: “some major moves of his illustrious banking career include ICON Ltd and City Securities before he later applied for a merchant banking license that birthed First City Merchant Bank. Of the institutions and businesses that require the most and the best in setting up, a bank naturally comes first, requiring a concert of ideas from persons of diverse professional callings.
“Hence they are usually set up by groups of investors, not so in the case of FCMB, which is solely the idea of Otunba Balogun. Not just that he set it up, but he imbued it with a culture of excellence that has endured over time.”
To his credit, the statement added that, “he was the first to create a special dining room for bank employees and insisted they wear dark and conservative suits. And he also introduced the elegant, memorable, likeable, and relatable bank architectural model synonymous with the average FCMB branch, now widely adopted in different iterations by banks in the country.”
The Group sees Balogun as a national treasure whose influence and good deeds extend beyond the shores of Nigeria, adding that, “and there is no better moment to celebrate the life of an African visionary, entrepreneurial model, and astute banker (The Grand Master of Nigeria’s financial services sector), than the occasion of his 89th birthday.
Born on 9th March 1934 at Ijebu ode, Ogun State, Otunba (Dr) Michael Olasubomi Balogun attended several schools, including Igbobi College, Yaba Lagos, before heading to England, to study Law at the London School of Economics.
“Armed with the requisite qualifications, he returned to Nigeria and joined the Ministry of Justice, Western Region, as a Crown Counsel and Parliamentary Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice. He later moved to the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB), where he advocated the establishment of a merchant bank. He joined that same subsidiary of NIDB, ICON securities, in 1973.”
Disclosing that the founder has also uplifted individuals and communities through scholarships, empowering the disadvantaged to pursue their dreams, achieve their goals, and make a positive impact beyond their communities, as part of his humanitarian services, the firm noted that, to his credit, over 300 education scholarships have been offered to Nigerians from different walks of life.
FCMB Group applauded him for setting up the ‘Otunba Tunwase Foundation that has become a source of blessing to many, even as he built the Otunba Tunwase National Paediatric Centre – a massive multi-billion-naira health care centre now fully donated as a total gift to the University of Ibadan and University College Hospital, Ibadan.
On his part, Otunba Balogun said: “I want my God to use me. I want to spend the rest of my life serving God and humanity. I want my God to allow me always to show my appreciation. I am not asking for anything again in life. All the beautiful things of this life God has given to me.”
FCMB Group Plc has sustained its impressive financial performance across all indicators, achieving a 68.4 per cent year-on-year growth in profit before tax of N26.5 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, compared to N15.7 billion in the corresponding period of 2021.
Highlights of the Group’s unaudited nine-month results showed double-digit growth across all business segments: Banking Group 74.8%, Consumer Finance 30.8%, Investment Management 47.1%, and Investment Banking 220.9%.
