Ten listed Nigerian banks made a grand appearance at the London Stock Exchange (LSE) on Friday June 8th 2007, preaching the gospel of Nigeria’s rising investment potentials and opportunities to top fund and investment managers from the United Kingdom, America, Europe and other parts of the world. The Nigerian Capital Market Day event at the LSE is part of a grand agenda to list Nigerian quoted companies on the London Stock Exchange before the end of 2007, an arrangement LSE officials and their Nigerian counterparts, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) say have reached advanced stages in planning.
Jim Ovia of Zenith Bank
The participating banks took turns in reeling out their financial performance over the past few years; profit & loss, balance sheet and returns on investments (ROI) to the audience with the aim of attracting further investment capital. The banks were represented by their managing directors and other top level executives. Among those present were Jim Ovia; CEO of Zenith bank PLC, Dr. Mrs. Cecilia Ibru; CEO of Oceanic International Bank PLC, Chika Mordi; Executive Director at UBA PLC, Erasmus Akingbola; CEO of Intercontinental Bank PLC, Ladi Balogun; CEO of FCMB PLC, Bola Adesola; Executive Director, Corporate Banking at First Bank PLC, Tayo Adenirokun, CEO of GTBank PLC amongst others.
The event was one every Nigerian should be proud of, it signified signs of better things to come. The banks literally took over the entire meeting and conference rooms in the first floor of the stock exchange building as their officials held private meetings with different parties and fund managers.
An ecstatic Dr.Mrs. Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, the hard working Director General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange said that she was very pleased at the reception of the London financial community, “This event today demonstrates that the confidence of the international financial community on Nigeria is growing stronger everyday”, she said.
The managing director of Oceanic International Bank PLC, Dr.Mrs Cecilia Ibru on her part urged Nigerians in the diaspora to be part of the Nigerian renaissance, “Be prepared to take advantage of the emerging opportunities in Nigeria. The time is now, exciting things are happening in various sectors in Nigeria, I will encourage Nigerians in the diaspora to think about investing back home”, Dr. Mrs Ibru said.
The Friday event was the culmination of a 3-day tour tagged “The Road to Success: Nigerian Capital Markets Overview”, which had seen the Nigerian banks engage the London financial community at various social venues and events in London. The event was packaged by Stephen Jennings and his team at Renaissance Capital, assisted by Ibukun Adebayo, Head of African Markets at the London Stock Exchange and Christian Udechukwu of BusinessinAfricaevents.com who played varying roles.
The participating banks included Zenith Bank PLC, GTBank PLC, Access Bank PLC, UBA PLC, Afribank PLC, Intercontinental Bank PLC, Oceanic Bank Int. PLC, FCMB PLC, Ecobank PLC and First Bank PLC.
Reports: Uche Nworah (info@uchenworah.com This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
). Photo Credits: Jide Ojo. Video Camera: Tolulope Oyewole
zenith bank has being perform very well to the best of my knowledge.