Foremost banker and founder of First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Chief Michael Olasubomi ‘Subomi’ Balogun, has died at the age of 89.
We gathered that the business mogul died on Friday morning
in London, United Kingdom after a brief illness.
He was 89 years old.
Balogun was the founder of First City Monument Bank. In
1979, he applied for a merchant banking license to establish First City
Merchant Bank.
Balogun was reportedly inspired by the entrepreneurial works
of Siegmund Warburg, who co-founded S.G. Warburg, he visited Warburg in London
prior to establishing his merchant bank.
Following his graduation in June 1959, he was called to the
English Bar in December of the same year.
Balogun’s legal career saw him serve as a crown counsel in
the ministry of justice of Western Nigeria and later as an assistant parliamentary counsel in the federal ministry
of justice in Lagos. However, the January 1966 coup prompted a shift in his
career trajectory towards the banking sector.
Balogun later founded City Securities, a stock broking and
issuing house, which handled Mobil, Texaco and Total petroleum marketing
companies equity offerings. Balogun secured a merchant banking licence to
establish First City Merchant Bank.
When the operations of the bank took effect in 1983, Balogun
was said to have established an entrepreneurial culture at the new bank, unique
as an owner managed bank in contrast to the government owned banks at the time.
Balogun was a long time member of the council of the
Nigerian Stock Exchange.