It’s been a turbulent time for leadership of NOVA Commercial Bank which has quietly named Chinwe Iloghalu as Acting MD/CEO after the exit of its former CEO Adebowale Oyedeji, who moved on to become the GMD of FBN Holdings after just 11 months on the job.
NOVA Bank had appointed Adebowale Oyedeji as its new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, effective January 2, 2024.
He was succeeding the former MD, Nath Ude, whose tenure concluded on November 6, 2023.
Ms. Iloghalu is the third CEO of the bank since November 2023, and would be tasked with executing plans to recapitalize the lender to meet higher capital requirements set by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
NOVA plans to raise additional equity capital of over N160 billion through a combination of rights issue, private placement, and an initial public offer (IPO) within the two-year timeframe (2024-2026) to meet the new capital requirements for its recently acquired commercial banking license.
“We have very solid foreign investors who have committed to raising the money to meet the CBN’s capital requirements,” Oyedeji told MoneyCentral at the opening of NOVA’s first commercial banking branch at 18, Kofo Abayomi Street, Victoria Island in July 2024.
However, Oyedeji moved on to FBN Holdings shortly after this (helping to steer FBN Holdings to impressive results for the year ended December 31, 2024) and it remains to be seen how NOVA Bank plans to meet the new CBN capital requirements.
NOVA Bank recorded pre-tax profit of over N2 billion in the five-month period ended 31 May 2024.
Its shareholder equity strengthened to N32.3 billion in the first quarter of 2024 (2023: N29.8 billion), following capital injection of N1.4 billion through a rights issue as well as the impact of earnings accretion.
The capital injection is however still less than 1% of its planned additional equity capital raise of N160 billion.
