Mobolaji Bank Anthony

Sir Mobolaji Bank Anthony, KBE (11 June 1907 - 26 May 1991) was a Nigerian business tycoon and philanthropist. He was a President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange and was a minority investor in Aero-Contractors before indigenous shares were acquired by the Ibru Organisation. At one time, he held the distributional rights to cars manufactured by Rootes Group. He was a board member of various companies and was a fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management.

Life Bank Anthony was born to the family of Alfred Bank Anthony of Brazilian quarters, Lagos Island; his mother was related to the Aleshinloye Williams family of Olowogbowo, Lagos and both parents were businesspeople; his father had an undertaker business under the name, A. Bank Anthony and Sons Ltd. He left the P&T dept in 1931 and switched to business. He traveled to Germany and England to study palm oil making and later established M. de Bank Brothers, a general merchant firm originally trading in Palm Oil and then patent medicine. After both businesses were not very successful, he switched to importing watches, clocks and fountain pens. At one time, he was the third largest seller of fountain pens in Nigeria after UAC and the United Trading Company. In the early 1930s, he was briefly involved with the Lagos Youth Movement. Bank Anthony's business began to pick up at the onset of World War II when prices rose in the country benefiting traders like Bank Anthony who had large reserves of goods before the inflationary pressures.

In the 1950s he brought in a few European firms to Nigeria and was one of the earliest Nigerians to become chairman of a European company when in 1950, after introducing an Italian firm to the Nigerian market, he became chairman of the Italian Construction firm Borini Prono and Company. The firm was later involved in the construction of the Ijora Causeway, Benin-Asaba road and the Sapele-Onithsa road. He was also the agent of Law Union and rock Insurance Agency in 1950 which was later managed by T.A. Braithwaite in 1951. He was also a director of the Nigerian arm of Mobil Oil Company and was also a director of the Nigerian branch of Friesland Foods.

Bank Anthony acquired shares in a few companies during his business career including Weide Nigeria Limited that dealt with completely knocked down electrical parts, an Italian partnership called Motor Parts Industries, a plywood business venture in Cross River State and the Nigerian arm of May and Baker,

Personal life Bank Anthony was married to Olamide Adeshigin, later known as Lady Bank Anthony. He belonged to a few social and business clubs in Lagos, including the Lagos Race Club, Metropolitan Club, Yoruba Tennis Club and the Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce.