When a new entity enters the rather narrow non-interest segment of Nigeria’s banking sector, it cannot but elicit interest and curiosity. Non-interest banking is a specialised area and those who venture into it had better come prepared. Only four other players have come into this space since 2012 when Jaiz Bank Plc blazed the trail to provide full-fledged non-interest financial services in Nigeria – that is, until the latest entrant rounded the number of non-interest banks in the country to six.

Summit Bank appears to be coming quietly, opening its door gradually to serious business. But it is not its quiet entry that has elicited the most interest; it is the pedigree of the persons behind the new bank – and a name that suggests it plans to play at the highest echelons of its chosen segment.

Summit Bank Limited was incorporated as a limited liability company on 15 July 2024, coming behind SunTrust Bank, AltBank, Lotus Bank, TAJBank, and Jaiz Bank. It was licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on 5 February 2025 to provide non-interest banking services to the public.

Out of seven persons on the Board of Summit Bank, three are former staff of Zenith Bank.

There is Umar Shuaib Ahmed, who co-founded and chairs Summit Bank Ltd. A thoroughbred banker, Ahmed joined Zenith Bank in 2006 and served as the Group Supervising Director for Zenith Bank Sierra Leone, Non-Executive Director at Zenith Pensions Custodian Limited, and Executive Director on the Board of Zenith Bank Plc for over six years.

There is Aisha Bello, who is on the Board of Summit Bank as a Non-Executive Director. A seasoned banker with extensive operational banking experience across the sector, Bello served as a Deputy General Manager at Zenith Bank and First Bank of Nigeria, and was the pioneer MD/CEO of I-Care Microfinance Bank Limited, Nigeria’s first non-interest MFB.

And there is Mukhtar Adam, a professionally and academically diverse financial and banking expert, Co-Founder and Executive Director/Chief Operating Officer at Summit Bank, who served as the Group Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Zenith Bank Plc.

Though he does not have a Zenith Bank background, the Managing Director, Sirajo Salisu, comes with relevant experience and record of remarkable achievements in the non-interest banking space, having served as Managing Director/CEO of Arab-Gambia Islamic Bank in The Republic of Gambia, and Managing Director/CEO of Jaiz Bank Plc.

Questions are already being asked among analysts whether or not there is more to the Zenith Bank connection. Could Zenith Bank have a hand in Summit Bank, or has Summit Bank deliberately modelled itself after Zenith Bank? Is it just a case of ex-Zenith staff branching off and taking a leaf from the Zenith playbook? What with the striking similarity even in the names! Zenith and Summit are considered to be synonyms. Both refer to the highest point. “When you reach the zenith, you are at the top, the pinnacle, the summit, the peak,” says the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Mukhtar Adam’s credentials perhaps tell a better story of the Zenith connection. A man who could be said to have the Zenith success DNA, Adam worked in the Ghanaian subsidiary of Zenith Bank as Manager, Financial Control and Strategic Planning before joining the Zenith Group in Nigeria on a similar role. He then oversaw the entire Zenith Group’s financial reporting as Head of Financial Reporting, Tax Management and Strategic Planning Groups, served as the bank’s Deputy CFO before assuming the role of CFO in 2018.

With a PhD in Finance from Leeds Beckett University, an MSc in Financial Sector Management from the University of London, an MBA in Finance from the University of Leicester, and a B.Ed. in Social Sciences from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, as well as several executive programmes at Harvard, Wharton, INSEAD, LSE, and MIT, he was clearly prepared for the job and delivered excellently on all the roles he was assigned.

As an eloquent testimony to the successes he helped achieve at Zenith Bank, Nairametrics, an online newspaper, described the first three years (2018-2020) of Adam’s stewardship as the bank’s CFO as “three progressive years” for the tier-one bank. The bank’s cost-to-income ratio in the period declined 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 among the five tier-one banks. Profit after tax rose from N173.79 billion in 2017 to N193.42 billion in 2018, and increased further to N208.84 billion in 2019.

In 2023, Adam was recognised as the All Africa CFO of the year. In January 2024, Nairametrics named him among the CFOs of 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 Summit Bank says it is on a mission to be the trusted partner, providing ethical banking solutions that empower individuals and communities while making a positive impact in the lives of stakeholders for a prosperous society, those listening would likely look at the antecedents of the persons behind the brand and nod their heads.

When it says it is positioning itself to become one of the most efficient digital and service-focused banks in Nigeria, or that it envisions “to be the leading ethical bank, supporting our stakeholders for common growth and prosperity”, the credibility of the key players would again be the benchmark.

And when it lays claim to being “a forward-thinking Nigerian financial institution established to redefine banking through innovation, customer-centric solutions, and a strong commitment to integrity and excellence”, even the naysayers would be inclined to rise and chorus “aye!”

Already, there are indications that Summit Bank is living up to some of these promises. In July, it partnered with ICS Financial Systems Ltd. (ICSFS), a provider of universal banking software, to expand access to Shariah-compliant digital banking in Nigeria. This is expected to enable Summit Bank to offer a comprehensive range of non-interest financing products delivered through multiple digital channels, with customers being able to access services via mobile and tablet banking, internet banking, SMS notifications, and the integrated ICS BANKS® ERP Suite.

In addition to its core banking and digital channels, Summit Bank also plans to implement key modules including Credit Facilities and Risk Groups, Management Information Systems, Remittances, Trade Finance, Islamic Treasury, IFRS9 ECL, e-KYC with full customer profiling, and Risk Rating and Credit Scoring tools, all designed to strengthen operations, support compliance and enhance customer onboarding.

But whether or not Zenith Bank has a hand in Summit Bank, the question remains whether the Zenith factor would come into play in the life of the new bank. Will Adam and his colleagues at Summit Bank replicate the successes they recorded at Zenith Bank? Will Summit Bank indeed turn out to be the summit of non-interest banking in Nigeria? It may be too early to tell, but the signs point to interesting times in the Nigerian banking space.

*Oluigbo, a seasoned journalist and editor, writes from Benin City.