For First Bank of Nigeria, 125 years is not just a number (2)

For those who are anxious to avail themselves of a concise bio-data or testimonial of the Bank, both the website and the indefatigable Alex Otti (a former Executive Director) have conspired to deliver the following powerful advertisement:

“The bank began as the Bank of British West Africa (BBWA) in 1894 and quickly began playing the role of the Central Bank of BritishWest Africa in the absence of a regulator at those medieval times in the sub region. The bank witnessed the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates and the eventual independence of Nigeria in 1960. It was founded by Alfred Lewis Jones, a shipping magnate who imported silver currency into West Africa through Elder Dempster shipping company also owned by him.

In 1957, the bank changed its name to Bank of West Africa (BWA). Sequel to Nigeria’s independence in 1960, the bank began to extend more credit to indigenous Nigerians as most of its credit facilities were hitherto concentrated on foreigners living in the erstwhile colony.

Standard Bank acquired the Bank of West Africa in 1966 and changed its name to Standard Bank of West Africa. In 1969, Standard Bank of West Africa incorporated its Nigerian operations and its name had to change once again, this time to Standard Bank of Nigeria Ltd (SBN). In 1971,  SBN listed its shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and placed 13% of its share capital with Nigerian investors. Following the implementation of the indigenisation policy of the then military government soon after the civil war, Standard Chartered Bank reduced its stake in SBN to 38%. This action led to another change in name to First Bank of Nigeria in 1979 as Standard Chartered Bank insisted that since it had lost majority control, the bank should no longer bear its name since by the action, it had failed to be its full-fledged subsidiary.

This marked a watershed in the history of the bank as more Nigerians were appointed to the board and it began to look and operate more like a Nigerian bank. The bank had subsequently moved from a limited liability company to a publicly quoted company and back to a limited liability company which it presently is. The latest status is in compliance with changes in the regulatory environment in 2012 that required that the group operates as a holding company, with the bank as one of its subsidiaries or spin off other operations not related to banking. That marked the birth of FBN Holdings which presently has the bank and non-bank subsidiaries as part of the group.

In 1982, First Bank opened a branch in London and converted same to a full-fledged subsidiary, FBN Bank (UK) in 2002. Two years later, in 2004, a representative office in Johannesburg, South Africa, debuted. At the moment, First Bank has subsidiaries or representative offices in France, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Guinea and Senegal. At the last count, First Bank had presence across 10 countries in three continents. It operates from over 750 locations and employs close to 22,000 people. Its has over N3.3trillion in total assets. It also boasts over N2.5trillion in Customer deposits with a tidy 19% Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR). The bank has over 1.3m shareholders and over 14million customers.”

For those who have attempted to fault the Bank’s assertion:

“Banking for Good”

The least we can do is to remind them that the Bank spread the gospel of banking through missionaries, traders, “Mercantile Houses”, such as the United Africa Company (UAC); Lever Brothers; United Trading Company (UTC); Leventis Stores; G.B. Ollivant; Paterson and Zochonis(PZ); Mandillas; CFAO etc.

The traders were mostly Lebanese, Syrians, Jews; Greeks and of course, British and French. At various times, the Bank was confronted with trenchant complaints that it discriminated against our fledgling entrepreneurs when it came to granting loans in order to assist them in their business pursuits. The bank had a ready self-fulfilling excuse – the “natives” had poor business experience and no collateral.

However, we cannot overlook the fact that while the British managers had what was termed “Terms and Conditions of Service”, the “natives” had none!! It was not until much later that pressure from the Labour Union and the government resolved such glaring cases of discrimination. There was also the delicate matter of segregation. While the white managers lived in exclusive “Government Reservation Areas” (“GRAs”), the natives had to fend for themselves.

Say what you will about the Bank, it is to its credit that at intervals it would select some of the local staff and send them off to the United Kingdom for training or posting, for short periods in order to prepare them for promotion into the management cadre.

One of the earliest beneficiaries was Chief Julius Kosebinu Agbaje who was entrusted with the Bank’s public relations. He facilitated the recruitment of quite a large number of ex-students of St. Gregory’s College, Lagos (his Alma Mater) and many of his protégés served the Bank meritoriously.

Somewhere along the line, the Bank switched its recruitment policy almost exclusively in favour of graduates, who after brief training, entered the management cadre. Inevitably, there was tension and conflict as well as envy as those who were stuck in the rank and file resented the new bunch of managers and bosses whose banking skills were somewhat rudimentary. Regardless, the graduates were rewarded with generous salaries along with cars and accommodation allowances. Quite a few of them gained rapid promotion as well as the much-coveted overseas training.

We are obliged to acknowledge that the Bank was very much part and parcel of the British colonial government which had tentacles all over what would become Nigeria in 1914. Separately, we shall resolve the mystery behind the choice of the dour elephant as the dominant feature of its logo rather than the nimbler and more sure-footed leopard. Incidentally, in 1912, a leopard with its spots et all was shot dead right in front of the Bank’s office at 35 Marina, Lagos. The photograph has been preserved for posterity under the caption:

“Colonialists And Some Nigerians Watch The Remains Of A Leopard Shot Dead In Lagos in 1912.”

 

Bashorun J. K. Randle