The Managing Director of NOVA Bank Limited, Adebowale Oyedeji, reports that investors have promised to contribute additional funds to sustain the company’s operations.
At the inauguration of NOVA’s first branch as a national commercial bank in Lagos on Tuesday, Oyedeji spoke with the local news brand.
According to him, the organisation would be able to fulfil the new capital criteria set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) thanks to the cash that the shareholders want to supply via rights issue.
The minimum capital requirements for commercial, merchant, and non-interest banks will be reviewed upward, the CBN announced on March 29.
The capital base for commercial banks with international licences was raised to N500 billion, while the minimum capital requirements for national and regional licence holders were set at N200 billion and N50 billion, respectively. The regulator said the increase was required because of the current macroeconomic challenges and headwinds caused by external and domestic shocks.
The financial regulator said that the new capital base for national and regional non-interest banks is now N20 billion and N10 billion, respectively. The new policy has since forced financial institutions into the market in a race to beat the deadline of March 31, 2026.
Banking and finance news reports that the CBN also raised the minimum capital requirement of merchant banks with national licences to N50 billion.
Oyedeji said: “We have our shareholders, who last year, brought in additional capital to enable us scale the huddle to operate as a commercial bank today.
“And they have committed that they would bring in capital via rights issue that will enable us to have the capital required before the CBN deadline,” he added.
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‘WHY WE BECAME A COMMERCIAL BANK’
In a statement on July 3, NOVA Bank said that it had started conducting business as a national commercial bank.
The company’s chairman, Phillips Oduoza, explained that the change was required to influence and bolster the economy’s general expansion.
He said: “NOVA is one that has long-term goals of impacting the society, and this is one of the reasons why we decided to extend to commercial banking business.”
He further stated: “Therefore, we want to transfer that success story to the retail end of the market. We want to impact the Nigerian economy as a whole. We want to assist in job creation and the stability of the country, which Mr. President has been working on.”
Having a commercial bank, according to the chairman, gives “us a platform for more job creation in the country”.
The governor of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, expressed gratitude to the bank’s clients and stockholders for their support of the institution.
Continuing, he had this to say about what President Bola Tinubu has given: “a tall order” to have a $1 trillion economy in the next seven to eight years, but the federal government alone cannot achieve the feat without the help of the private sector which “are the engines of growth.”
According to the governor, the state will keep creating the favourable conditions required for companies to prosper.
