Chief Michael Subomi Balogun, the founder of First City Monument Bank (FCMB) has passed away.
He died on Friday morning in a London hospital.
As of the time of filing this report, the cause of his death has not been ascertained nor disclosed by his family.
He was Otunba Tunwase of Ijebuland before his death. As a ranking Ijebu Chief, his death will, however, only be officially announced in line with tradition.
A direct descendant of Oba Tunwase of Ijebu-Ode, Otunba Balogun was the Olori Omoba (head of princes) of Ijebu land and the Asiwaju of Ijebu Christians.
Balogun who pioneered investment banking as well as indigenous financial entrepreneurship in Nigeria, was 89 years old at his last birthday which he celebrated on May 9.
Born on March 9, 1934 in Ijebu Ode, Otunba Balogun graduated from Igbobi College and studied Law at the London School of Economics. After he bagged his law degree, he returned to Nigeria and joined the Ministry of Justice of the Western Region as a Crown Counsel. He later became a Parliamentary Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice.
With the fall of the First Republic, Balogun joined the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB), where he advocated for the establishment of merchant bank. He joined ICON Securities, a merchant banking outfit established in 1973 as a subsidiary of NIDB, and became a director of operations at ICON Ltd.
Otunba 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. The operations of the bank began in 1983.
