Chairman of NOVA Merchant Bank Limited, Dr. Phillips Oduoza has revealed that NOVA is starting with technology that is suited for merchant banking. Our products and services have been tailored and are suited for the intermediation roles we are set to play as a merchant bank.
In an interview, he said “In terms of technology, we deliberately selected technologies that are suited for merchant banking, both on the digital front, and effective customer service delivery. In addition, we have deployed very strong firewalls among other security measures to ensure our IT security architectures are fool-proof.
“In terms of long-term funding, what we are doing is looking beyond the Nigerian market. We are tapping into the development finance institutions outside the country that provide long-term on-lending facilities for our customers given the fact that we have a very good customer profile.
“We also believe that the Nigerian economy is moving in the right direction and that the economy will continue to expand. We have seen some diversification in the economy today as against the pre-recession period when oil was the mainstay of the economy. I believe the decline in oil price may have been a blessing in disguise. We have seen what the Central Bank of Nigeria has done with respect to the Anchor Borrowers Programme as the country is almost self-sufficient in rice production. So, you can see that the economy is moving in the right direction and we believe NOVA is going to benefit from the expanding economy.
On how the name: NOVA came about, Oduoza averred that “Nova is ‘new’ in many languages including Latin, Portuguese, among others. The reason why we chose the name, is because NOVA Merchant Bank Limited has come with new ideas, fresh thinking, cutting edge technology and excellent customer services”.
“Our key focus is wholesale banking and investment banking and we want to bring innovations in these areas. We believe the industry has reached a stage where it needs another quantum leap to move it to the next level.
According to the former chief executive officer of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc., “Banking is changing globally with the emergence of new entrants and the infusion of non-traditional business models leveraging advances in technology. We believe Nigeria should not be left behind. Therefore, NOVA is here to bring a new experience in the banking industry. That was why we selected the name, NOVA, which means new. We want to do new things”.
