About Cornerstone

A Yaba bank built on one idea: ownership should not be a mystery.

We started in 2009 with six staff and a single office above a bookshop on Herbert Macaulay Way. Today we are a licensed primary mortgage bank lending across five states, still headquartered in Yaba (example history).

Aerial view of Lagos city buildings by day

2009founded in Yaba

86staff

5states we lend in

11countries served by our diaspora desk

Milestones

Seventeen years, one street.

2009

Six people and a ledger

Founded to lend to salaried teachers and civil servants locked out of home ownership.

2013

First estate partnership

Financed 120 homes on an estate in Ikorodu, with stage payments to the developer.

2017

Construction finance

Launched stage-by-stage building loans for landowners with stalled projects.

2021

Diaspora desk

Opened a team serving Nigerians abroad, with video consultations across time zones.

2025

One thousand families

Passed 1,000 homes financed since opening (example figures).

Values

Three promises we hold ourselves to.

Clarity

No small print

Every rate and fee is in one table, and your offer letter is written in plain English.

Care

Early help

If you struggle with repayments, call us early. We would rather adjust a plan than repossess a home.

Care with titles

Checked, every time

We search every title and visit every property, because a bad title hurts families for years.

Leadership

The people accountable for your mortgage.

Adaora Nwachukwu

Managing director

Twenty years in housing finance; started her career as a branch officer in Ebute Metta.

Tunde Bakare

Head of lending

Leads underwriting and the approved developer list.

Halima Yusuf

Head of legal and title

Runs title searches, consent applications and completions.

Chiamaka Obi

Head of diaspora desk

Looks after customers in eleven countries and every site visit.

Names and roles are invented for this demo.

Regulation and safety

Licensed, insured and audited.

Cornerstone is licensed as a primary mortgage bank and supervised by the national banking regulator. Our accounts are audited each year and published on this site in a live build.

Customer deposits covered by deposit insurance up to the published limit
Annual independent audit
Complaints answered within five working days
Data kept in Nigeria and never sold

Example details for this demo.

In the community

Beyond lending.

Schools

Money lessons in Yaba

Staff teach saving basics in four secondary schools near our office each term.

Housing

Title clinics

Free monthly title clinics where anyone can bring documents for a plain-English read.

Careers

Graduate programme

Twelve graduates a year join our two-year programme in lending and legal.

Want to work with us?

We hire advisers, underwriters and legal officers in Yaba each year.

Contact our team