Adepapo Adedayo Olagunju, Nigerian-born Oxford-trained banker has been appointed to lead JPMorgan Nigerian branch, following the American merchant bank’s regulator’s approval to operate in Nigeria.
Olagunju has led JPMorgan’s West African operations since 2018, and is set to head the American financial institution’s merchant banking services in Nigeria.
The Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) has approved his nomination as managing director of the American offshore merchant bank. A CBN statement weekend announced Olagunju’s nomination, alongside the apex bank’s decision to grant JPMorgan approval-in-principle to establish JPMorgan Merchant Bank Nigeria Limited.
Final operating licence is expected later, according to information from the financial institutions regulator.
Non-executive directors also approved include Latter Kevin George, Nzelu Chinedum Izunwanne, and Syed Gabriel Murtaza, while Alade Sarah Omotunde, Ajayi Olukonyinsola, and Adetu Seni would serve as independent non-executive directors.
Olagunju’s appointment, say financial experts, marks another milestone in a career that began in Nigeria’s investment banking industry, for a man who had dreamed of becoming an astronaut, to explore space.
Nigeria’s merchant banking history began in the 1960s with ICON Limited and Nigerian Acceptances Limited (which later became Sterling Bank), focusing on trade finance, project finance, and leasing.
Between the 1970s–1990s—saw expansion in the sector to handle public offerings underwriting, mergers and acquisitions advisory, portfolio management, and corporate restructurings.
2005—saw consolidation exercise as the CBN raised the minimum capital base for banks, causing many merchant banks to either merge or convert into commercial banks, which temporarily erased the standalone merchant banking identity.
But 2010—saw a reintroduction of dedicated merchant banking license to separate wholesale corporate banking from retail-focused commercial banking. Prominent institutions like Coronation Merchant Bank, FBNQuest Merchant Bank, Rand Merchant Bank (RMB Nigeria), and Nova Merchant Bank operate in the space. Now JPMorgan an international player has secured approval to run merchant banking operations in the country.
Olagunju , graduate from Ogun State University, now Olabisi Onabanjo University, in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in banking and finance, qualified as a chartered accountant in 1999, adding a professional accounting qualification to his university education.
In 2005, he enrolled at the University of Oxford for a Master of Business Administration (MBA), before completing Harvard Business School’s General Management Programme in 2014.
He is also a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and an honorary senior member of the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN).
Olagunju’s professional banking career began at Investment Banking & Trust Company (IBTC), which later became part of Stanbic IBTC, where he served as chief dealer between January 2000 and March 2003.
In January 2018, Olagunju joined JPMorgan as managing director responsible for its West African business. The appointment placed him at the helm of the American financial institution’s activities across the region. In the past eight years, he oversaw the institution’s engagement with financial institutions, corporate clients and other market participants in the sub-region.
Olagunju’s leadership has coincided with JPMorgan’s drive to deepen its African presence, including its plans to establish a fully licensed merchant banking operation in Nigeria.
On October 8, 2026, at the Nigeria–Asia Financial Connectivity Dialogue in Singapore, an event involving the CBN, JPMorgan, Nigerian Exchange Group and FMDQ Group, plans by the American merchant banking institution to take a Nigerian bite were disclosed.
The new merchant bank would expand JPMorgan’s Nigeria presence beyond its representative office in Lagos, by allowing it to pursue a wider range of regulated banking activities when it secures a final operating licence.
