Banking
First Bank Assures Customers Enhanced Palliative Measures
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Customers of First Bank of Nigeria Limited have been assured enhanced palliative measures to help them overcome the hardship caused by COVID-19 pandemic.
This assurance was given by the CEO of the bank, Mr Adesola Adeduntan, at the company’s virtual Corporate Customers forum webinar held on Thursday.
The banker said the one of the palliatives was the introduction of moratorium by the financial institution to give customers more time to repay their loans.
Speaking on how the lender plans to survive the tide, he the company will optimally maximise the opportunities from the disruptions occasioned by the Coronavirus on the economy to its advantage by reducing the cost of doing business.
“COVID-19 is giving business leaders an opportunity to rethink on an established wisdom.
“It is a major crisis that we need to deal with and we must change it from a bad to good crisis. It offers an opportunity to reinvent our business. We have to think without the box,” Mr Adeduntan said at the event
themed Navigating the Financial Impact of COVID-19 – Business Leaders’ Role in Finding a ‘New Normal.
According to him, the bank is looking at several opportunities to do things differently to achieve desired result.
Speaking on the topic Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Nigeria Financial Sector, he said the pandemic had put significant pressure on revenue and profits of commercial banks.
He said that the banking industry was witnessing more stringent interest rates, higher foreign exchange funding cost and concerns on level of foreign reserves, among others.
The bank chief said that the pandemic had led to uptick in the level of non-performing assets and increase in the level of cyber attacks due to migration to digital channels.
Mr Adeduntan assured customers that the bank would overcome the pandemic, having been in existence for the past 126 years.
He said that FirstBank was already in existence when the first pandemic of 1918 occurred, saying “it weathered it and would still shake off COVID-19 pandemic. Our customers are right in there at the centre of our business.”
Also speaking, FirstBank Group Executive, Treasury & Financial Institutions, Mr Ini Ebong, said that collapse of oil price, oil price war, COVID-19 pandemic and global lockdown affected the foreign exchange market.
Mr Ebong said the foreign exchange market was under immense pressure due to exit of portfolio investors.
He said that demand for dollars was heightened due to collapse of oil price and Coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Ebong explained that steps taken so far by the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to support the economy would bring back liquidity.
“If we create a good conducive environment, portfolio managers will still come back to our market,” he said.
Mr Wole Obayomi, Partner, KPMG, said tax was part of life, while noting that no country had cancelled tax payment because of COVID-19.
Speaking on the topic Tax Advisory: Market Disruptions, Mr Obayomi advised corporates to ensure payment of tax as and when due, to reduce tax bills in form of penalties.
He said that corporates could engage tax authorities for payment extension if they foresee late payment due to the global pandemic.
Mr Obayomi, however, called on the Federal Government to suspend the new Value Added Tax increase to 7.5 per cent till 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Also speaking, Ms Bunmi Bajomo, First Bank Group Head, Corporate Banking Group (Manufacturing), noted that fundamental change requires fundamental actions by corporates, governments, customers and consumers.
Speaking on the topic Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Manufacturing Sector, Ms Bajomo said “there is always an opportunity in any crisis.”
She said that companies with strong balance sheet would come out stronger and marginal players would struggle.
According to her, corporates should be careful and smarter with operational expenses, adding that actions corporates take would determine where they would be post-COVID-19.
By Adedapo Adesanya
First Holdco Plc has commenced a public offer to raise about N1.4 trillion (approximately $1 billion) after securing approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The offer, which opened on Monday, involves the sale of 10.4 billion ordinary shares, according to the chief executive of its banking subsidiary, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mr Olusegun Alebiosu.
The capital raise follows the company’s earlier plan to transfer about a quarter of its shares to RC Investment Management Ltd., which served as a bridge holder after Barbican Capital Limited exited its investment in the lender amid a prolonged ownership and leadership dispute.
First Holdco had previously indicated that the shares would eventually be offered to the investing public once the necessary regulatory approvals were obtained.
Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg, Mr Alebiosu said proceeds from the offer would strengthen the capital base of First Bank and support the holding company’s expansion strategy.
According to him, the group intends to diversify beyond banking by establishing an insurance underwriting business and a fintech services company.
“The sale is starting today — the reality here is that I am not sure it will stay more than one week based on the pressure we are getting,” Mr Alebiosu said, expressing confidence in strong investor demand.
Investors appeared to respond positively to the announcement, with First HoldCo’s shares climbing as much as 5.9 per cent to a record high during trading on Monday before easing to a 3.1 per cent gain at N133.60 by early afternoon in Lagos.
The lender has been one of the best-performing banking stocks on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited over the past year, with its share price rising more than fourfold since July 2025, when Barbican Capital’s stake was transferred to RC Investment Management.
The fresh capital injection comes as its largest shareholder, Mr Femi Otedola, continues to strengthen his stake in Nigeria’s oldest bank. With the billionaire holding around a 26 per cent stake in the company, analysts say he has his eyes set on full control once his equity crosses the 30 per cent mark.
By Adedapo Adesanya
One of Nigeria’s top digital banks, PalmPay, has appointed a former executive of the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), Mr Samuel Oluyemi, as its chief operating officer.
In his new role, Mr Oluyemi will oversee the financial technology company’s operations in Nigeria, where it offers a broad range of digital financial services to individuals and businesses.
Mr Oluyemi will also engage with regulators to ensure the company’s expansion aligns with Nigeria’s financial, digital and social inclusion objectives.
Prior to joining the company, Mr Oluyemi spent more than two decades at NIBSS, where he served as business development lead.
During his tenure, he drove the development of several critical payment infrastructure projects, including the digital validation of Nigerian international passports, e-Dividend Mandate Management System (e-DMMS), and the Electronic Pensions Contribution Collection System (EPCCOS).
Also, he played a key role in the introduction and early adoption of the NIBSS Instant Payment (NIP) platform, Nigeria’s first real-time interbank transfer system launched in 2011, and later supported its extension to other financial institutions.
Mr Oluyemi obtained a master’s degree in Monetary Economics from the University of Ibadan and has participated in several local and international professional training programmes.
Commenting on the appointment, Managing Director of PalmPay Nigeria, Mr Chika Nwosu, said that the company was strengthening its leadership team to support its longterm vision.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Africa’s most valuable fintech, Flutterwave, has signalled that its long-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) remains firmly on the back burner as the company intensifies efforts to transform itself into a licensed financial institution across the continent.
The firm’s chief executive, Mr Olugbenga Agboola, said the firm is focused on building sustainable profitability, diversifying its revenue streams and expanding its banking footprint before considering a stock market listing.
Speaking to The Africa Report, Mr Agboola described an IPO as a future financing milestone rather than an immediate strategic objective.
“An IPO is a financing event, not a strategy,” he said. “We are not holding any pressure to go public. This gives us the flexibility to be patient and ensure when we do list, we’re doing so from a position of strength.”
The comments come as Flutterwave embarks on an acquisition-led expansion strategy aimed at securing banking licences and deeper regulatory access across Africa.
Mr Agboola revealed that the company is currently in the process of acquiring a bank in East Africa, though he declined to disclose the institution or country involved.
The planned acquisition is expected to provide Flutterwave with an established customer base, existing banking infrastructure and regulatory approvals, significantly shortening the time required to enter new financial services markets.
According to Mr Agboola, the company’s expansion priorities include Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Africa and Egypt, while the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ethiopia remain under consideration for future growth.
Rather than building banks from scratch in every market, Flutterwave intends to adopt a mix of acquisitions, licences and strategic partnerships depending on local regulatory conditions.
“The vision is not to form a bank in every country but to ensure that every African business has access to more than financial services,” Mr Agboola said in the interview.
The banking push follows recent regulatory and corporate developments, including the Central Bank of Nigeria’s approval of Flutterwave’s banking licence and the acquisition of open banking startup Mono.
Together, the moves underscore a broader strategy to expand beyond payments and establish new revenue streams in lending, liquidity management and business banking services.
Flutterwave plans to focus on institutional deposits from businesses already using its platform rather than competing aggressively for retail deposits.
The company intends to leverage transaction data from its payments network to provide short-term working capital, merchant financing, invoice discounting and trade finance products for small and medium-sized enterprises.
Mr Agboola disclosed that the bulk of the capital earmarked for banking operations will be directed toward credit support and liquidity buffers, with additional allocations for lending and banking infrastructure.
The strategy reflects a growing trend among African fintech firms seeking banking licences to reduce dependence on traditional financial institutions and gain greater control over settlement, liquidity management and product development.
Despite speculation about a near-term public listing, Mr Agboola maintained that Flutterwave’s immediate focus remains execution and growth.
He noted that the company will only consider an IPO after achieving stronger profitability and establishing scale across its payments, banking and remittance businesses.
In February 2025, he told Bloomberg that Flutterwave would only pursue a public offering after becoming profitable. He also stated in late 2024 that the company was “not in the IPO race.”
Founded in 2016, Flutterwave has processed more than one billion transactions valued at over $40 billion across 35 African countries. The company recently secured fresh funding that lifted its valuation to $3.3 billion, with American blockchain firm Ripple leading the investment round.
For now, however, Flutterwave appears more interested in building the foundations of a pan-African financial institution than rushing to the public markets, positioning banking expansion as the next phase of its growth story while keeping an eventual IPO firmly on the long-term horizon.
