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Dr Folashade Adeyemo began working on her PhD thesis shortly after the global financial crisis ended and when the UK was coming out of recession. Fola found herself interested in how the law had developed in this particular area, and was intrigued by the regulatory infrastructure that was put in place to deal with the global financial crisis from 2007 to 2009 as well as future financial crises.

Her doctoral thesis focused on Nigeria where she argued that the banking law regime required urgent reform. She also provided a comprehensive critique of Nigeria’s then banking law Act, the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 1991. She also met with some stakeholders who could influence the redevelopment of the law in Nigeria. In 2020, the country enacted a new banking law and many of Fola’s arguments were included in the new regulation.

Teaching Banking Law

Recently, Fola designed and introduced a new Banking Law module in collaboration with her students. This module remains one of the most widely selected optional modules since its inception in 2020 and it is available to second year students at the School of Law. This module is also available to students in Henley Business School.

This module provides the opportunity to combine the theoretical elements of Fola’s research and her passion for banking law and infuse this into her teaching. It also provides the students with an opportunity to consider some overlooked questions such as: Why do we have banking law? What is the relationship which exists between the banker and customer? What are the implications of having an overdraft? What are the anti-money laundering laws in the UK? These are just a few of the questions Fola addresses in her banking law lectures.

Engaging further with her research, Fola’s students refer to her recently published monograph ‘Banking Regulation in Africa: The Case of Nigeria and Other Emerging Economies’ as the recommended reading material. This important monograph is a comparative study of how different countries responded to the financial crisis. Students not only learn about regulatory responses by developed economies such as the UK and the US, but also get to extend the study to other emerging economies in the global south region and see the approaches they have taken to improve their banking regulatory infrastructure.

Investigating Unexplained wealth

Fola’s research interests also cover financial and economic crime. To that end she is currently writing a monograph examining issues of unexplained wealth with a particular focus on Nigeria and Kenya. It looks at financial and economic crime and the general issue of corruption in Africa. As a founding member of the Global South Dialogue on Economic Crime network, Fola recently concluded a webinar which specifically discussed unexplained wealth. This is an under researched area and the webinar attracted a large number of attendees, comprising of stakeholders, practitioners, and academics.