Meet the five Nigerians appointed to lead JPMorgan’s first African merchant bank – Businessday NG

JPMorgan Chase’s plan to establish its first merchant banking operation in Africa has advanced significantly, with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) granting approval-in-principle for the proposed Nigerian subsidiary and clearing seven nominees to its board.

The development followed reports on October 20 that the American banking group had deposited N50 billion, equivalent to about $38 million, with the CBN to meet a key capital requirement for a nationally licensed merchant bank.

The proposed institution, JPMorgan Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited, would mark a major expansion of the bank’s longstanding Nigerian presence, which has largely been maintained through its Lagos representative office. A merchant banking licence would provide a broader platform to serve Nigerian corporations and institutional clients, subject to regulatory approval.

The CBN approved Adedapo Adedayo Olagunju as managing director, alongside three non-executive directors and three independent non-executive directors. Five of the seven nominees are Nigerians: Olagunju, Chinedum Nzelu Izunwanne, Sarah Omotunde Alade, Olukonyinsola Ajayi and Seni Adetu.

The appointments bring together expertise in investment banking, electronic trading, central banking, commercial law and multinational business management at a time when Nigeria is seeking to deepen its capital markets and attract international investment.

Read also: JPMorgan’s Nigeria expansion sparks domino effect on talent retention

The approval-in-principle, however, is not a final banking licence. JPMorgan must satisfy the remaining regulatory and operational requirements before it can begin business.

Here are the newly appointed executives

Adedapo Adedayo Olagunju – Managing director
Adedapo Adedayo Olagunju, widely known as Dapo Olagunju, is the managing director of JPMorgan Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited. His appointment places an experienced Nigerian financial-markets executive at the centre of the bank’s planned transition from a representative presence to a locally licensed merchant banking operation.

Olagunju has led JPMorgan’s West African business since 2018, overseeing relationships with financial institutions, corporate clients and other market participants. Before joining the American banking group, he spent several years at Access Bank, where he served as group treasurer and later headed global markets.

Olagunju’s banking career began at the Investment Banking & Trust Company (IBTC), which later became part of Stanbic IBTC. He served there as Chief Dealer from January 2000 to March 2003. He then moved to Access Bank as Treasurer, a role he held until September 2005. He briefly worked as a consultant with the United Nations between May and July 2006, contributing to peacekeeping financing operations in New York.

He returned to Access Bank in September 2006 and spent about 11 years as Group Treasurer until January 2018. In January 2017, he also became Head of Global Markets, a business group that combined Treasury, Financial Institutions, and Project and Structured Finance. In January 2018, he joined JPMorgan as Managing Director responsible for its West African business.

Read also: Seni Adetu: From Guinness to JPMorgan, shifts into banking governance

Olagunju holds a bachelor’s degree in Banking and Finance from Ogun State University, now Olabisi Onabanjo University. He obtained an MBA from the University of Oxford in 2005 and completed Harvard Business School’s General Management Programme in 2014. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria.

His appointment follows his public disclosure of JPMorgan’s Nigerian merchant banking plans at the Nigeria–Asia Financial Connectivity Dialogue in Singapore earlier in October.

His immediate challenge will be to help establish the bank’s local operating structure, develop its client franchise and position it within Nigeria’s corporate and institutional financial markets, subject to final regulatory approval.

Chinedum Nzelu Izunwanne – Non-executive director
Chinedum Nzelu Izunwanne, known professionally as Chi Nzelu, is among the proposed non-executive directors approved by the CBN.

Izunwanne is a senior JPMorgan executive whose career has been built around financial markets, technology and electronic trading. He has served as the bank’s global head of macro electronic trading, working on the development and execution of electronic trading strategies across asset classes.

Born and raised in Lagos, he attended Federal Government College, Ijanikin, before moving to the United Kingdom for university education. He obtained a first degree in engineering in 2002 and a master’s degree in computer science in 2003.

Read also: Dapo Olagunju: From treasury markets to JPMorgan’s Nigerian banking ambition

He joined JPMorgan in London in 2005 as a foreign-exchange electronic commerce analyst. His career subsequently progressed into the management of automated trading strategies, including algorithmic execution and electronic markets. He was promoted to managing director in 2016.

His experience reflects the growing importance of technology in global financial markets, where electronic execution, trading algorithms and sophisticated risk-management systems have become central to institutional trading.

As a non-executive director of the proposed Nigerian bank, Izunwanne’s international markets experience could be relevant to board-level oversight of the institution’s trading capabilities, technology and risk framework. The CBN has not publicly specified individual directors’ committee assignments or operational responsibilities.

Sarah Omotunde Alade – Independent non-executive director
Sarah Omotunde Alade brings decades of experience in monetary policy, banking regulation, public finance and financial-system development to the proposed bank’s board.

Alade, an economist and banker, served as deputy governor of the CBN from 2007 to 2017, including a period as acting governor in 2014. She was subsequently appointed special adviser to the president on finance and the economy in 2019.

Her career at the central bank began in 1993, when she joined its research department as an assistant director. She went on to head the State Government Finance Office, the Federal Government Finance Office and the Fiscal Analysis Division before becoming director of banking operations in 2004.

She was appointed deputy governor in 2007 and was involved in the central bank’s economic-policy and financial-system responsibilities during a period of significant changes in Nigeria’s banking industry.

Alade studied economics at the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, before obtaining a master’s degree in commerce from the University of Melbourne in Australia. She later earned a PhD in Management Science, specialising in operations research, from the University of Ilorin.

Her professional affiliations and board experience have included roles connected to Nigeria’s payment systems, financial markets and development finance institutions.

Her appointment as an independent non-executive director is particularly notable because of her familiarity with the regulatory environment in which the proposed bank must operate.

Olukonyinsola Ajayi – Independent non-executive director
Olukonyinsola Ajayi, commonly known as Konyin Ajayi, is a Nigerian lawyer whose professional experience spans banking, project finance, capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, energy and infrastructure.

Ajayi is a partner at Olaniwun Ajayi LP, a Nigerian law firm, where his practice includes complex corporate and financial transactions. His work has involved areas central to the financing of large businesses, including debt and equity capital markets, project development and mergers and acquisitions.

Read also: CBN grants JPMorgan approval to open merchant bank

His professional profile lists experience advising on significant transactions involving Nigerian and international companies. These include Airtel Africa’s $750 million dual listing in the United Kingdom and Nigeria and Seplat Petroleum Development Company’s acquisition of Eland Oil and Gas.

Such transactions require expertise in corporate structuring, regulatory compliance, financing arrangements and the legal frameworks governing cross-border investment.

His appointment as an independent non-executive director gives the proposed bank access to legal and transactional experience relevant to corporate finance and institutional banking.

Seni Adetu – Independent non-executive director
Seni Adetu brings more than three decades of private-sector leadership experience, including senior executive positions at major multinational companies operating across Africa.

He previously served as managing director and chief executive officer of Guinness Nigeria and as chief executive of East African Breweries, the Diageo subsidiary based in Kenya. His career also includes senior roles at John Holt, Coca-Cola and Diageo across several markets.

At Guinness Nigeria, he became the first Nigerian in nearly two decades to lead the company, while his appointment at Guinness Ghana earlier in his career made him the first African managing director and executive vice-chairman of the business.

Adetu’s experience at East African Breweries also placed him at the helm of one of the region’s major consumer-goods businesses. During his tenure, he was recognised among the leading business executives in East Africa.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and an MBA specialising in Marketing, both from the University of Lagos. He has also undertaken executive leadership training at Harvard Business School.

After his multinational executive career, Adetu founded First Primus West Africa, where he serves as group chief executive officer. The group includes businesses in marketing communications and advertising.

He has also held board positions in Nigeria’s financial services sector, including at FBN Holdings and Fidelity Bank.

His appointment as an independent non-executive director brings commercial leadership and board experience to a proposed institution whose success will depend not only on financial-market expertise but also on understanding the needs of large companies operating in Nigeria and across Africa.