- Dr. Mukhtar Adam, a highly accomplished former GCFO of Zenith Bank with a strong academic and professional background, has co-founded Summit Bank, Nigeria’s sixth non-interest bank, sparking industry-wide interest and speculation.
- Summit Bank’s emergence adds to the growing list of non-interest banks in Nigeria, reflecting the sector’s expansion and the increasing involvement of former commercial bank executives in ethical banking models.
- Analysts are curious about a possible link between Summit Bank and Zenith Bank, especially given Dr. Adam’s deep-rooted loyalty and success at Zenith, and the trend of ex-Zenith staff founding successful financial institutions like Globus Bank.
Since it became known that the emergence of what is now the sixth non-interest bank in Nigeria, Summit Bank, has the hand of Dr. Mukhtar Adam in it, analysts have not stopped gazing into the crystal ball to see what this new bank has up its sleeves.
And there is no better place to talk about this than Nairametrics, which has notable hindsight reports on Dr. Adam and his achievements.
The reason for the heightened interest is not far-fetched. Dr. Mukhtar Adam is not your run-of-the-mill banker.
He has had a spectacular banking career spanning about two decades, reaching the top echelons of Zenith Bank as Group Chief Finance Officer (GCFO).
Before then, he had served as the bank’s Deputy CFO, Head of Financial Reporting, Tax Management and Strategic Planning Groups of the Zenith Group; and Manager, Financial Control and Strategic Planning, Zenith Group.
Beyond his banking experience, Dr. Adam, who is a Chartered Accountant, boasts an impressive academic background: PhD in Finance from Leeds Beckett University, MSc in Financial Sector Management from the University of London, MBA in Finance from the University of Leicester, and B.Ed. in Social Sciences from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
He also holds a Professional Certificate in Islamic Banking and Finance from Bayero University of Kano, and a PGD in Islamic Banking and Insurance from the Institute of Islamic Banking and Insurance, U.K. In addition, he has attended several executive programmes at Harvard Business School (USA), Wharton Business School (USA), INSEAD Business School (Paris), London School of Economics, and Sloan School of Management, MIT (USA)
His years at Zenith Bank were marked by remarkable achievements. As GCFO of Zenith Bank from 2018 to 2024, Dr. Adam brought his learning and experience to bear on the role. Owing to the excellent result he helped achieve at Zenith Bank, Nairametrics, an online newspaper, in a 2020 article described the first three years (2018-2020) of Dr. Adam’s stewardship as Zenith Bank’s GCFO as “three progressive years” for the tier-one bank.
During the period, the bank’s cost-to-income ratio dropped from 52.70 per cent in 2017 to 49.30 per cent in 2018, and further down to 48.8 per cent in 2019. In the same period, Zenith Bank consistently recorded the highest Profit After Tax (PAT) among the five tier-one banks, increasing from N173.79 billion in 2017 to N193.42 billion in 2018, and further to N208.84 billion in 2019.
As a further testament to his impressive run as Zenith Bank’s CFO, Dr. Adam was recognised as the All Africa CFO of the Year in 2023. In January 2024, Nairametrics named him among the CFOs of the top 10 biggest banks in Nigeria by market capitalisation, and in August of the same year, the same newspaper listed him as one of the top 10 powerful CFOs of Nigeria’s largest companies by market cap.
So, when a man of such pedigree steps into Nigeria’s non-interest banking arena as Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer of Summit Bank, which he co-founded, that move is bound to elicit interest. And pundits are right in wondering whether there is a connection between Summit Bank and Zenith Bank, and what this connection might be, especially amid what appears to be the growing interest of commercial banks – or ex-bankers – in non-interest banking.
Summit Bank Limited was incorporated as a limited liability company on 15th July 2024 and licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on 5th February 2025 to provide non-interest banking services to the public.
Before it, there was Jaiz Bank, which at inception was chaired by a former Chairman of First Bank, Umaru Mutallab, who played a key role in its establishment as the pioneer Islamic non-interest bank in Nigeria. There was TAJ Bank, founded by Hami Joda, a former Divisional Head, Public Sector at FCMB, who also serves as its MD/CEO. There was LOTUS Bank, founded by Hajara Adeola, the wife of Fola Adeola, co-founder of Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank).
There was Alt Bank (The Alternative Bank), which started out as an Islamic finance window within Sterling Bank before it was fully licensed in 2023 as a standalone non-interest bank under Sterling Bank’s parent holding company structure, Sterling Financial Holdings Company Plc. And there was SunTrust Bank.
The emergence of these non-interest banks points to the growth and expansion in the Nigerian banking sector over the years, buoyed by recapitalisation and other reform efforts in the sector. From commercial to microfinance banks, mortgage banks, NIBs, down to the surge in digital banking and other fintech services, the banking industry has seen enormous growth over the years and is positioned for further growth.
The industry recorded a 44.9 per cent year-on-year expansion to N186.6 trillion ($121.5 billion at N1,536/$) as of 31 December 2024, according to the ‘2025 Nigerian Banking Industry Report’ released by Agusto & Co, and is projected to sustain this growth momentum, with total assets and contingents expected to hit N242.3 trillion ($151.4 billion at N1,600/$) by year-end 2025.
Amid this expansion, Zenith Bank has held its head high. Dr. Adam spoke of the bank’s consistent culture of excellence at the Zenith Capital Markets Day held in 2024. He narrated how, in the process of the 2006 banking sector consolidation exercise during which the number of banks in the country dropped significantly from 83 at the time, the global financial sector crisis of 2008, and other headwinds, Zenith Bank stood unshaken.
“Within that process, Zenith Bank existed as Zenith Bank. After the process, Zenith Bank remained Zenith Bank. Zenith Bank kept to its corporate identity; the people behind Zenith Bank remained the people behind Zenith Bank; our logo did not change, our colour did not change, our strategy did not change, we kept our identity,” Dr Adam said in a video found on YouTube.
He recalled that during the financial sector crisis, the CBN conducted a stress test of the sector, and many banks went into the Intensive Care Unit, while some ended up at the cemetery.
“But we survived, we succeeded, we grew bigger, we kept our identity. Again, within that time, nothing changed. Our logo remained, our colour remained, our leadership remained, our strategy became better.
“Then today, we also heard the Central Bank said that the banking sector should recapitalise. And the sector is going through recapitalisation. From these two significant events that I have explained to you, and from your experience of Zenith within this period, now that the banking sector is going through recapitalisation, what do we expect? We are going to remain the same, but stronger. Our identity is going to remain, but stronger,” he said.
Pundits are now wondering why a man who spoke so confidently about Zenith Bank’s future would, just a few months down the line, leave to co-found a non-interest bank, as his loyalty to Zenith Bank was never in question. Could there then be a connection between Summit Bank and Zenith Bank? Could it be that Zenith Bank has a hand, directly or indirectly, in the emergence of Summit Bank?
Whatever the answers to these questions are, expectations are high as Summit Bank quietly enters the market and gets set to open its doors to serious business in this H2 of 2025, given the tendency for financial businesses founded by ex-Zenith Bank staff to succeed. Globus Bank, founded and chaired by a former Group Managing Director (GMD) of Zenith Bank, Peter Amangbo, and led by another ex-Zenith Bank senior staff, Elias Igbinakenzua, as MD/CEO, bears this out.
The bank reported gross earnings of N142 billion in 2024, up from N67 billion in 2023. Its Profit Before Tax (PBT) rose to N55.78 billion, more than double the N23 billion it posted a year earlier, while its total assets grew to about N1.6 trillion.
In August, ratings agency Agusto & Co. upgraded Globus Bank’s Investment Grade rating from “A-” to “A” with an ESG score of 3, reflecting the bank’s strong asset quality, underpinned by a conservative approach to credit risk. Also, Global Credit Ratings (GCR) upgraded the bank’s rating from “BBB-(NG)” to “BBB(NG)”, with a Stable Outlook, propelled by improved competitive positioning, stronger earnings performance, enhanced capital buffers, and sound asset quality.
Will analysts’ expectations of Summit Bank be met? Will the Zenith background of Dr. Mukhtar Adam and some of his colleagues shine forth at Summit Bank? Will Summit Bank turn out to be the Zenith Bank of the NIB segment of the Nigerian banking industry? The answers may still be in the realm of conjecture, but there is no doubt that the outlook for Summit Bank is positive.
In the meantime, it is refreshing to see another financial entity spring forth with a strong promise of ethical financial solutions, an inspiring set of operational values, and a vision to support stakeholders for common growth and prosperity.
- Oluigbo, a seasoned journalist and editor, writes in from Benin City.
