Organisers unveil nominees for 2017 African Banker Awards

Nominees for the ten categories in the 2017 African Banker Awards have been announced. 

The larger African banks still dominate the nominees list, with banks from Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa performing strongly across the board. The Awards, which are hosted by the African Banker Magazine, will be held during the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank (AfDB) on Wednesday 23^rd May at the Regency Hyatt in Ahmedabad, India. 

Chair of the Awards Committee, Omar Ben Yedder, the Group Publisher and Managing Director of IC Publications Group which publishes the African Banker Magazine, said that he was once again pleasantly surprised by the caliber and strength of this year’s entries.

“Given difficult trading conditions across many African countries, we expected a slowdown across the banking sector in Africa. We were pleasantly surprised to see that the financial services sector has managed to maintain on the whole positive developments. It was also interesting to note the number of competitive entries in certain categories, notably financial inclusion, innovation and social responsibility. This shows how the banking sector in general is responding to the challenges that are facing the continent and the role they are playing in driving the continent’s transformation. The deal of the year category is always an interesting one and again showed the activity in the equity and debt side, although there was a notable slowdown in activity across both debt and equity markets in general.”

This is the first time the AfDB’s Annual meetings will be held in India, and more precisely in the Gujarat State, which is where Prime Minister Narendra Modi used to be Governor. As a shareholder in the African Development Bank, the Indian government offered to host this year’s Annual Meetings with the aim of strengthening economic ties between India, one of the world’s fastest growing countries with a population of 1.4bn, and with historic trading, economic and political ties with African countries.

The awards which are held under the high patronage of the African Development Bank are sponsored by the African Guarantee Fund, the Bank of Industry, the PTA Bank, the African Trade Insurance Agency and the Ecobank-Nedbank alliance. The Gala Dinner and Awards presentation will take place at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Ahmedabad, on the evening of 23^rd May.

The nominees for the 10 categories are: 

African Bank of the Year: 

Afreximbank

Attijariwafa Bank, (Morocco)

Guaranty Trust Bank (Nigeria)

Mauritius Commercial Bank (Mauritius)

Standard Bank Group (South Africa) 

African Banker of the Year: 

Segun Agbaje, MD, GTB (Nigeria)

Jeremy Awori, MD, Barclays Bank (Kenya)

Dr Charles Kimei, MD, CRDB Bank (Tanzania)

James Mwangi, Group MD and CEO, Equity Bank (Kenya)

Joshua Nyamweya Olgara, Group CEO, KCB (Kenya)

Dr Benedict Okey Oramah, President, Afreximbank

Best Retail Bank in Africa: 

Ecobank (Togo)

Equity Bank (Kenya) 

KCB (Kenya)

SBM Bank (Mauritius)

UBA (Ghana)

Investment Bank of the Year: 

FBN Capital (Nigeria)

Fieldstone (South Africa)

Rand Merchant Bank (South Africa)

Standard Bank Group (South Africa)

Vetiva (Nigeria)

Financial Inclusion Award

African Local Currency Bond Fund

Amhara Credit and Savings Institution (Ethiopia)

Business Development Fund (Rwanda)

Caisse Centrale de Garantie (Morocco)

Verdant Capital (South Africa)

Socially Responsible Bank of the Year:

East African Development Bank

EFG Hermes (Egypt)

Guaranty Trust Bank (Nigeria)

KCB Foundation (Kenya)

Groupe Crédit Agricole du Maroc (Morocco)

Innovation in Banking Award: 

African Development Bank 

Ecobank (Togo)

First Bank (Nigeria)

Millenium Bim (Mozambique)

Wari (Senegal)

Deal of the Year – Debt:  

Brait, $675m Acquisition Facility (RMB)

Helios Towers, $600m debut High Yield Offering (Standard Bank)

Kenya Power & Lighting Company dual tranche syndicated loan (Standard Chartered)

Neconde Energy Medium Term Facility (FBN Capital)

Standard Bank/Commercial Bank $25m Cross Currency Swap (Frontclear)

Deal of the Year – Equity: 

CDC $65m Equity Investment in Zambeef

Ethos Capital IPO (RMB)

Neotel Sale to Liquid Telecom (RMB)

OGP sale to Helios (Argentil)

SGI Africa fund Raising (Lazard)

Infrastructure Deal of the Year: 

AFC and Harith Asset Merger (Africa Finance Corporation)

Amandi Energy IPP, Ghana (Fieldstone)

Kathu 100MW Solar Park, South Africa (RMB)

Senergy Solar Plant, Senegal (Hogan Lovells)

Zambia Electricity Supply Corp. Power projects (Standard Chartered)

Five other categories including individual recognitions are chosen by multilateral agencies, international experts and the editorial board of African Banker . These categories are Best Regional Banks in Africa (North/East/Southern/Central/West), Finance Minister of the Year, Central Bank Governor of the Year, Lifetime Achievement Award, and African Banker Icon.

The winners are selected by an expert judging panel of known and respected leaders in banking,finance and  business leaders known and will be announced on the evening of the awards ceremony.