By Adedapo Adesanya 

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the National Treasury have approved Access Bank’s acquisition of the National Bank of Kenya, one year after the deal was announced.

The lenders signed an agreement for the purchase in March 2024 and will see KCB sell 100 per cent of NBK at 1.25 its book value, boosting the foothold of Nigeria’s biggest bank in one of East Africa’s most crucial economies.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other authorities will still need to grant regulatory approval.

The CBK said Treasury Cabinet Secretary, Mr John Mbadi, had approved the deal, bringing Access Bank closer to taking over NBK, which could expand its footprint in East Africa’s largest economy, given the bank’s nationwide branch network.

“Pursuant to section 13 (4) of the Banking Act, the Central Bank of Kenya on 4th April, 2025, approved the acquisition of 100 percent of the issued share capital of National Bank of Kenya Limited by Access Bank PLC,” CBK governor Kamau Thugge said in a gazette notice.

“The Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury and Economic Planning on 10th April, 2025, approved the acquisition of 100 percent of the issued share capital of National Bank of Kenya Limited by Access Bank PLC,” it said in a statement on Monday.

This development marks the second acquisition in Kenya for the Nigerian bank after it bought Transnational Bank Limited in 2019.

Speaking on the deal last year, the CEO of Access Bank, Mr Roosevelt Ogbonna, in a statement said, “The transaction represents an important milestone for the bank as it moves us closer to the achievement of our five-year strategic plan through increased scale in the Kenyan market.”

According to KCB Group CEO, Mr Paul Russo, the sale of the lender to Access Bank will help turn around the fortunes of the struggling subsidiary. KCB, which is Kenya’s biggest bank, bought the National Bank of Kenya in 2019.

“The board evaluated three options and made the decision that to protect the value and the efforts we’ve put in NBK, the right thing to do [] is to accept a binding offer from Access Group,” Russo said while releasing KCB Group’s 2023 financial results.

Access Bank plans to double the share of assets outside its home market by 2027 and has seen deal build on the bank’s growing operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, as well as its acquisitions or plans to acquire stakes in Uganda’s Finance Trust Bank Limited in January, a controlling share in African Banking Corporation of Tanzania, and Standard Chartered Bank Plc’s consumer, private and business-banking operations in that country.

Access Bank has been on a Mergers and Acquisition (M&A) streak across the continent, acquiring Grobank in South Africa, BancABC in Botswana and Mozambique, Diamond Bank in Nigeria, and Finibanco Angola in line with the visions of its late founder, Mr Herbert Wigwe.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

A former staff of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mr Muiz Tijani Adeyinka, has forfeiture seven properties linked to him in Lagos to the federal government.

This followed a final forfeiture order ordered by Justice Dehinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Thursday, April 10, 2025.

He was brought before the court by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which argued that the properties were obtained with questionable funds.

Justice Dipeolu had earlier ordered the interim forfeiture of the properties and also ordered the publication of the said order in a national newspaper for any interested parties to show cause why the properties should not be finally forfeited to the federal government.

Moving the application for the final forfeiture yesterday, the EFCC, through its lawyer, Ms Zeenat Atiku, told the court that “no one showed cause within the 14 days window granted after the publication.”

The legal counsel also stated that the application was supported with an affidavit deposed to by an operative of the EFCC, Mr Isah Yusuf Nadabo.

In the affidavit, Nadabo informed the court that Mr Adeyinka worked at the settlement office of the bank and that he had the capacity to carry out some inalienable access available only to the office by virtue of his office.

He stated further in the affidavit that, “He, therefore, carried out illegal, unauthorised and fraudulent activities against First Bank Nigeria Plc.

“Investigation has thus far revealed and traced the sum of N35 billion benefitted by Muiz Tijani Adeyinka and his cronies.”

She, therefore, told the court that the properties traced to the former First Bank employee were reasonably suspected to have been acquired with proceeds of unlawful activities.

After listening to the EFCC’s counsel, Justice Dipeolu held that he found merit in the argument of the applicant and ordered the final forfeiture of the properties to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

The properties are Plot 9, Block 28 Itunu City, Veritas Homes & Properties Ltd., Aiyetoro, Epe Lagos State; a three-bedroom flat described as Block A, Floor 6, Flat 2 (Block A/6/2) Le Moriah Residences Estate, Off Kusenla Road, Ikate Ancient City, Lekki Penninsula, Eti-Osa LGA, Lagos State; a parcel of land known as Block L1, Plot 13, Amen Estate, Phase Ill Extension, Abomiti Zone, Lekki/Epe Express Way Epe LGA, Lagos State; a parcel of land known as Block 3, Plot 13, Arizon Estate , within Idera Scheme Allocation via Eleko Junction Ibeju-Lekki LGA; one plot of Land within Arizone Estate, Idera Scheme,lbeju-Lekki LGA and one plot of land within Itunu Residential Aiyetoro, Ibeju-Lekki LGA.

Others are a parcel of land known as Plot 7, Block 4 Itunu City, Veritas Homes & Properties Ltd, Aiyetoro Epe LGA, Lagos; a parcel of land known as Plot 1, Ido Gwari 2 Extension, within Ochacho Real Homes, Ido-Gwari 2 Extension, LifeCamp, Abuja and a parcel of land known as Block Q, Plot 25, Tiara by Amen City Limited, Along Lekki/Epe Express Way, Yeguda Resettlement Scheme, Epe Lagos State.

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

A veteran bank and founder of the defunct Diamond Bank Plc, Mr Pascal Gabriel Dozie, has died at the age of 85.

The former chairman of MTN Nigeria, a leading telecommunications firm, died in the early hours of Tuesday, April 8, 2025, just a day to his 86th birthday.

The Nigerian entrepreneur and businessman chairman of Pan-Atlantic University established Diamond Bank in 1990. The company later became one of Nigeria’s most respected financial institutions.

The current Governor of Abia State, Mr Alex Otti, once headed the lender before handing over to the founder’s son, Mr Uzoma Dozie, when he veered into politics.

Diamond Bank merged with Access Bank in 2019.

Mr Pascal Dozie, who was once the President of the Nigerian Exchange Limited, then known as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), was born on April 9, 1939, in Egbu, Owerri, Imo State, and began his career as an economist at the National Economic Development Office in the United Kingdom.