Remarkably, a major challenge he faced led to a turning point that set him on the path to glory in the country’s banking sector. He had joined the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) as a lawyer, and was instrumental in the establishment of ICON Securities Ltd., a merchant banking company as a subsidiary of NIDB in 1973. He was director of operations at the subsidiary firm.

When there was an opening at the top of the company, and he expected that he would be appointed to head the business, it didn’t happen. “My boss said to me, ‘You can’t be given the job, you’re only a lawyer,’” he recounted in an interview.

He was struggling with the blow when, according to him, his then nine-year-old son gave him an idea: “He said, ‘Daddy, I pity you. Why don’t you set up your own bank?’”

That was a defining moment for Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, who died in London on May 18, at the age of 89. He established City Securities Ltd., a stock broking and issuing house, in 1977. Five years later, he founded First City Merchant Bank (FCMB) and was granted a banking licence in August 1983. FCMB was reported to be the first bank established in Nigeria without government or foreign support, and earned Balogun immense respect, not only in the business community, but the country in general. It became First City Monument Bank Ltd. in 2001, following its transformation to a universal bank.

His story of how he and his wife carried out their plan to approach the then vice president of Nigeria, Alex Ekwueme, who was his friend, after a church service, to ask that he should intervene in his struggle to get a banking licence, gives a picture of his strong determination in the pursuit of his dream.

Born in Ijebu-Ode, in present-day Ogun State, he attended Igbobi College, Lagos, and studied Law at the London School of Economics. In his final year as a law student, the government of the western region gave him a scholarship to be trained as a parliamentary draftsman.

He said: “Immediately I graduated, I was called to the English bar in December 1959 — I moved to the British parliament to be trained. I had the fortune of sitting in the official gallery when the Nigerian Independence Act was being passed in the British Houses of Commons and Lords. I was the first Nigerian to be trained as a legal draftsman.”

After he returned to Nigeria, he became a Crown Counsel in the Ministry of Justice, Western Region, and was later a Parliamentary Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice. The January 1966 coup that resulted in military rule led to his move to NIDB, and the trajectory that took him to great heights in banking. His stature was undiminished by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s sanction against him and his bank in a publicised case of unprofessionalism in 2001.

Interestingly, his parents were Muslims but he converted to Christianity in secondary school. His religious involvement earned him a significant leadership title, Asiwaju of ljebu Christians. He was also the Olori Omo Oba Akile Ijebu, another leadership title that signified his royal roots. He was a recipient of the Nigerian national honour, Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), which was a testimony to his contribution to the country’s development.

An affluent and flamboyant banker, he was noted for his philanthropic deeds, particularly in his hometown. ”Anybody in Ijebu who would approach me for help, even though I’m not Father Christmas, I would at least do something. I won’t send anybody away,” he said.

He made an exemplary statement on charity by building the N5bn Otunba Tunwase National Paediatric Centre in Ijebu-Ode, which, in 2021, he donated to the University of Ibadan and the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

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