J.P. Morgan is making plans to establish a merchant bank in Nigeria, with operations expected to begin before the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval.
Dapo Olagunji, the bank’s managing director for West Africa, disclosed this at the Nigeria–Asia Financial Connectivity Dialogue held in Singapore on October 8.
A statement issued on Thursday said the event was organised by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in partnership with J.P. Morgan, Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) and FMDQ Group.
The proposed institution would represent a new phase in J.P. Morgan’s operations in Nigeria, amid efforts to strengthen the country’s financial markets and attract more foreign investment.
The announcement followed engagements by CBN Governor Olayemi Cardoso with financial institutions and market stakeholders in Singapore, ahead of the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok.
In a related development, J.P. Morgan on September 15 added Nigeria to its new emerging markets index, assigning the country a weighting of 7.4 per cent.
The benchmark, known as the Government Bond Index–Emerging Markets Edge (GBI-EM Edge), tracks local-currency government bonds across frontier and emerging markets. It was launched at the end of September.
Nigeria’s inclusion comes nearly 11 years after the country was removed from J.P. Morgan’s GBI-EM index in 2015.
With a 7.4 per cent weighting, Nigeria is set to rank among the largest markets represented in the new benchmark, a development that could raise the profile of its domestic government securities among international fixed-income investors.
