Sanwo-Olu Commends Nova Bank’s Conversion to Commercial Banking

Oluchi Chibuzor

The Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has commended the entrance of Nova Bank into Nigeria’s commercial banking market with the opening of its first branch office in the state.

The branch opening marked the first milestone of the bank since the Central Bank of Nigeria granted its commercial banking operation license to operate as a national bank.

The governor stated this at the opening of Nova Bank’s first commercial branch in Lagos, while commending the dedication of the bank’s board members, management and shareholders in trusting their investments in the country-s economy.

Sanwo-Olu noted that the country must encourage its citizens that still believe in investing their funds in the economy by providing an enabling environment and policy for them to move forward.

He said: “When you see all of the disruption, the global challenges, when you see all of the uncertainty, all of the risk profiles that are abound almost everywhere but more importantly now in the economy. But you still see investors, shareholders that are committed in this environment, that still believe that there’s a need for them not to take their money out, we need to commend them and we need to encourage them.

“And so for us in the public sector, it’s to create that space, that policy, and an enabling environment for you to make those decisions and de-risk whatever challenges you have and be able to take it forward. So I see your vision, sitting with the vision of the federal government, and also sitting with our vision in Lagos.”

The governor, however, assured the business community that they are “excited to create an enabling business environment where shareholders, stakeholders, customers see the need for them to grow their businesses, for them to make additional investment in whatever quality that they have.”

On his side, the Chairman and the Founder, Nova Bank, Mr. Phillips Oduoza, said having made success as a merchant bank, customers should expect disrupting products from them.

According to him, “Our trademarked PHYGITAL experience combines a select number of strategically located physical branches with high-tech, seamless digital banking capabilities, ensuring that our customers receive the best of both worlds. This approach allows us to provide personalized, in-person service where it is most needed, while also offering the convenience and efficiency of cutting-edge digital solutions.

“More importantly, we also want to support the president in the job creation, in stabilizing the economy. Because with a commercial banking franchise, we will be able to reach out to so many people that we would not be able to reach. And the geographical spread is very important in job creation; branches  that you establish help you to create jobs, to employ people, they have to run those branches.”

For the Managing Director/CEO of Nova Bank, Wale Oyedeji, who expressed excitement at the launch of the branch, said they are coming with a customer centric model of doing business.

He revealed that in the next few months they would be opening branches in Ikeja, Apapa, Abuja, Port Harcourt and in other key locations in the country.

“With merchant bank we have made success and profit after profit for the last five to six. We assure our customers that the future is bright as we are coming into the market with top talents, human capital and coming with top-grade technology.

“We have invested in top notch banking software in the country and we have our shareholders who brought in capital to enable us to scale the hurdle to be today to operate as a commercial bank,” he said.