J.P. Morgan has announced plans to establish a merchant bank in Nigeria before the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval.
The Managing Director of J.P. Morgan West Africa, Dapo Olagunji, disclosed this at the Nigeria-Asia Financial Connectivity Dialogue held in Singapore on October 8.
The dialogue was organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, in collaboration with J.P. Morgan, Nigerian Exchange Group, NGX, and FMDQ Group, according to a statement issued on Thursday.
The planned bank is expected to expand J.P. Morgan’s presence in Nigeria as the country pushes to deepen its financial markets and attract foreign investment.
The announcement came during engagements by CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso with financial institutions in Singapore ahead of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok.
The move follows J.P. Morgan’s September 15 announcement of Nigeria’s inclusion in its new emerging markets index – the Government Bond Index-Emerging Markets Edge, GBI-EM Edge – with a weighting of 7.4 percent. The index tracks local-currency government bonds.
Nigeria’s inclusion marks its return to J.P. Morgan’s emerging-market government bond index nearly 11 years after it was removed in 2015, and is expected to boost visibility of its domestic securities among global fixed-income investors.