Honours came in bountiful proportions for Nigerian banks at the weekend in Washington D.C, United States.
The events also provided another opportunity for stakeholders in the financial sector to shower encomiums on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and its Governor Professor Chukwuma Soludo.
And, Soludo has, for the second time, emerged the African Central Banker of the year.
At one of the events, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, clinched three awards, courtesy of a poll conducted by an international financial publication, Global Finance (GF), based in Washington D.C.
At another event, packaged by a London-based organisation, I.C. Publications, publishers of The African Banker Magazine, six other Nigerian banks also carted away awards . The awardees include Oceanic International Bank Plc, the United Bank for Africa Plc and Zenith Bank. The others are Access Bank Plc, Bank of Industry and IBTC Chartered Bank Plc.
The three awards were bestowed on First Bank during this year's meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetray Fund (IMF) in Washington DC. They are: Best Bank in Nigeria, Best Trade Finance Bank and the Best Foreign Exchange Bank for 2007.
In a poll conducted by GF, with input from industry analysts, corporate executives, banking consultants and technology experts in 24 countries, FirstBank named Nigeria's best bank. This makes it the third consecutive year the bank has won the awards.
Announcing the award from its New York headquarters, Joseph Giarraputo, GF President noted that emerging markets were attracting increased attention. He added: "We have identified the banks that provide services to corporations seeking to take advantage of substantial opportunities for growth in a sometimes challenging environment and FirstBank is one of them."
At the African Banker Magazine awards, Dr. Cecilia Ibru of Oceanic Bank won the Banker of the Year Award, while UBA got the prize for the Best Emerging Global Bank in Africa. The Most Innovative Bank of the Year went to Access Bank Plc, while the Bank of Industry was named the Development Bank in Nigeria and Zenith Bank got the Socially Responsible Bank of the Year award.
Swazi Bank in Swaziland received the Gender Sensitivity Award.
For its award, Access Bank beat two other Nigerian banks, First Inland and GTBank as well as the Swazi Bank. Access Bank also came close to clinching the Gender Sensitivity award won by Swazi Bank.
Waheed Olagunju, who received BOI's award, opened the floodgates of encomiums on the CBN and Prof. Soludo. He thanked the apex bank's governor for the consolidation policy which forced Nigerian banks to either raise their assets portfolios to N25 billion or close shop.
Mrs. Ibru also spoke in the same vein. She said: "Before I say anything, I must congratulate the CBN Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo. Since he took over, I have become empowered. Without consolidation I would not have been standing in front of you today. I owe a lot to him (Soludo), God Almighty and my husband, Olorogun Michael Ibru, our founding Chairman, who gave me the opportunity to serve."
UBA won in the Emerging Global Bank In Africa category, which had JP Morgan Chase Bank and Standard Bank of South Africa (also trading as Stanbic Bank) in contention.
Zenith emerged the most Socially Responsible corporate citizen in Africa, coming tops of Fidelity Bank, Bank PHB, Intercontinental and Nedbank of South Africa. Receiving the award, the Deputy Managing Director, Godwin Emefiele thanked the organisers for the initiative and promised to keep being a very good corporate citizen.
Soludo, emerged the African Central Banker of the Year for the second time running. While receiving the award, the CBN Governor commended the efforts of the Nigerian banks for their determination at becoming major players, not only in the continent but also globally.
From Ade Ogidan, Washington DC
The Guardian
Monday, October 22, 2007
