Nigeria’s oldest banking institution becomes “First Holdco” as shareholders endorse new name

Nigeria’s oldest banking institution is taking a new identity in the form of name change after shareholders gave their nod to the proposal to replace the name it has been known by in 12 years with “First Holdco.”

The financial services group, whose centenarian flagship subsidiary First Bank pioneered commercial banking in Nigeria when it came to life in 1894 in Lagos, switched to the name “FBN Holdings” in 2012 from “First Bank of Nigeria PLC.”

That happened in the final phase of a corporate transformation that converted the lender’s former operational model from core traditional banking into holding company.

Shareholders agreed “that there should be a change of the legal and brand names of the Company from FBN Holdings Plc and FBNHoldings to First Holdco and FirstHoldco Plc,” the company stated in a note to the Nigerian Exchange.

The change applies also to the subsidiaries within the group, FBN Holdings remarked.

The last phase of the process requires an amendment to FBN Holdings’ memorandum and articles of association to feature the new name.

According to the statement, the company has also secured shareholders’ approval to tap the capital market for N350 billion.

The equity capital raise might take the form of public offering, rights issue, private placement or a mix of two or all of that.

FBN Holdings is already in the middle of a share sale to existing shareholders in the hunt for N149.6 billion to part-fund the recapitalisation of its subsidiaries as required by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The new rule expects lenders with international banking authorisation like FBN Holdings, UBA, GTCO, Access Holdings, Zenith, Fidelity and FCMB to scale capital base to a minimum of half a trillion naira by March 2026.

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In September, FBN Holdings sold its spinoff merchant banking arm to a consortium of investors including Custodian Investment Plc, Aion Investments Private Limited and Evercorp Industries Limited.

The corporation unbundled the merchant banking business from a larger entity comprising its investment banking and asset management divisions jointly known as FBN Quest.