The founder of FCMB, Subomi Balogun, is dead.

He died in London Friday morning, at the ripe age of 89.

Chief Michael Olasubomi “Subomi” Balogun (born 9 March 1934) was a Nigerian Yoruba banker and philanthropist who founded First City Merchant Bank, a company that later became the FCMB group. Balogun was a long time member of the council of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

He was an alumnus of Igbobi College and studied law at the London School of Economics.

The deceased practised as a lawyer in the regional justice ministry and then at the federal ministry of justice until the January 1966 coup.

After the coup, Mr Balogun ventured into banking and joined the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB).

He pioneered Icon Securities — a subsidiary of NIDB which specialised in merchant banking — as director of operations. He ventured into several commerce and economics firms until FCMB was established in 1979.