By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigeria’s tier one lender, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) and Segun Agbaje, managing director (MD) of the bank on Thursday were nominated for year 2018 African Banker Awards; which saw the likes of Ecobank, Standard Bank and Standard Chartered making the list.
This year’s shortlisted banks have large footprint across the continent and featured across several categories seeing another strong year for banks from Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya, according to IC Publications Group which publishes the African Banker.
For the African Banker of the Year, the shortlisted names include Segun Agbaje of Guaranty Trust Bank, Nigeria Mohamed El Kettani – Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco, James Mwangi – Equity Group Holdings Plc, Kenya and Joshua Oigara – KCB, Kenya.
Nominated banks for the African Bank of the Year are Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco, Equity Group Holdings, Kenya Guaranty Trust Bank, Nigeria, The Mauritius Commercial Bank, Mauritius and Standard Chartered.
“We saw McKinsey earlier in the year releasing a very positive report analysing the banking landscape in Africa. The entries reaffirm their findings when they say Africa’s banking market are amongst the most exciting in the world. The categories that caught my eye were innovation in banking – and this year’s entries reflect the transformative role of fintech and also blockchain technology – as well as deal of the year, which is every year a very competitive category. Equity markets were a little slower in 2017, but we saw some interesting deals on the debt side and also transformative infrastructure financing structures. The quality of the entries, and sophistication of the solutions being presented, reflect a buoyant sector in continuous evolution,” Omar Ben Yedder, the Group Publisher and Managing Director of IC Publications Group and Chair of the Awards Committee said.
The Awards, which are hosted by African Banker magazine, will be held during the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) at the end of May in Busan, South Korea. The finalists, selected by an expert judging panel of bankers and business leaders will be announced at the African Banker Awards ceremony which will take place on Wednesday 22nd May.
Below is a rundown of the other shortlisted entries:
Best Retail Bank in Africa:
- Barclays, Zambia
- Ecobank
- KCB, Kenya
- Millennium BIM, Mozambique
- SBM Holdings, Mauritius
Investment Bank of the Year:
- Barclays Africa Group
- Exotix
- FNBQuest Merchant Bank, Nigeria
- Standard Bank
- Standard Chartered
Award for Financial Inclusion:
- Fourth Generation Capital Limited, Kenya
- Groupe Crédit Agricole du Maroc, Morocco
- Baobab Group, France
- Equity Group, Kenya
- JUMO World, South Africa
Award for Innovation in Banking:
- Agricultural Finance Corporation, Kenya
- Ubuntu Coin
- Banque Nationale pour le Développement Economique, Senegal
- Ecobank
- SBM Holdings, Mauritius
Socially Responsible Bank of the Year:
- Barclays Bank, Zambia
- BMCE Bank of Africa, Morocco
- Equity Group, Kenya
- First Bank of Nigeria, Nigeria
- KCB Group, Kenya
- Standard Chartered Bank Kenya, Kenya
Deal of the Year – Equity:
- ADES IPO – EFG Hermes, Egypt
- First Rand Acquisition of Aldermore PLC – Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa
- GAPCO sale to Total – Standard Chartered, South Africa
- Long4Life IPO – Standard Bank, South Africa
- Steinhoff Africa Retail Listing – Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa
- Vodacom Tanzania IPO – National Bank of Commerce and Absa CIB, Tanzania
Deal of the Year – Debt:
- $300m Diaspora Bond – Standard Bank/FBNQuest Merchant Bank, Nigeria
- $540 First Rand Asia Focused syndication – Standard Chartered, UK
- Cape Town Green Bond – RMB, South Africa
- Dufil Prima Foods – Standard Bank, South Africa
- Nokeng Fluorspar – Fieldstone, South Africa
- Viathan – Renaissance Capital, Nigeria
Infrastructure Deal of the Year:
- Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund – Chapel Hill Denham, Nigeria
- Nacala Railway and Port Corridor – Standard Bank SA / RMB, South Africa
- FIRST – Rand Merchant Bank, South Africa
- AEE Power Project – RMB, Namibia
Individual recognition will also be given in the categories for the Regional Bank winners, Central Bank Governor of the Year, Finance Minister of the Year and Lifetime Achievement.