News Investigators/ The founder of First City Monument Bank, Otunba Subomi Balogun, has died.
Although, no official statement has been been issued as at the time of this report, sources said he died in a London hospital Friday morning at age 89.
Born on March 9, 1934, at Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State, Otunba Balogun became an outstanding personality, a great phenomenon and embodiment of achievements within his immediate environment and far beyond.
The late founder of FCMB Group, was also a holder of many traditional titles prominent among which is the Otunba Tunwase of Ijebu-Ode, the Olori Omo-oba of Ijebu; the Asiwaju of Ijebu Christians, the Baba Oba of Ijebu-Ife and the Asalu-Oba of Ijebu Mushin.
The late Balogun was a doyen of the Nigerian capital and money markets; played pioneering role as model of entrepreneurial banking in Nigeria.
He was a philanthropist and a distinguished church leader who devoted a substantial part of his private resources towards the care and service of the less privileged. Through the ‘Otunba Tunwase Foundation’ he dispensed his philanthropic gestures to communities and needy.
A lover of children who built several institutions for the health care, welfare and survival of children, Otunba Balogun was also a distinguished author, opinion leader, writer and a respected community leader whose contributions for community welfare continue to expand as he grew older.
A business icon, a philanthropist par excellence and a strong adherent to the Christian religion faith, he was also a strong character with unwavering inner convictions to which his resounding successes in many spheres of life could be attributed.
“I have a very strong character. There is nothing that I did that I wish I had not done. I have no regret over any of my past actions,” he once quoted as saying.
He recalled when he wanted to set up First City Monument Bank (FCMB), a wholly Nigerian Bank which he singlehandedly established; he went ahead to define what the culture of excellence would be.
It was to his credit that he was the first to create a special dining room for banks and was also the first to insist on bank staff wearing dark suits.
