African Banker Awards Committee Announces 2018 Nominees

Nominees for the 2018 African Banker Awards have been announced. This year’s shortlist sees another strong year for banks from Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya. Ecobank, Standard Bank and Standard Chartered, which have a large footprint across the continent also feature across several categories.

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.

Chair of the Awards Committee, Omar Ben Yedder, the Group Publisher and Managing Director of IC Publications Group (www.ICPublications.com) which publishes African Banker, said that he was once again impressed by the quality and breadth of entries this year.

“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.”

The awards which are held under the high patronage of the African Development Bank and, are sponsored by The African Guarantee Fund, Banco Nacional de Investimento (BNI), Groupe Crédit Agricole du Maroc and the Bank of Industry. Ecobank will be the hosts of the African Banker Awards cocktail reception prior the awards. The Gala Dinner and Awards presentation will take place at the Paradise Hotel, Busan.

The shortlisted entries are:

African Banker of the Year:

Mohamed El Kettani - Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco
James Mwangi - Equity Group Holdings Plc, Kenya
Joshua Oigara - KCB, Kenya
Segun Agbaje – Guaranty Trust Bank, Nigeria

African Bank of the Year: 

Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco
Equity Group Holdings, Kenya
Guaranty Trust Bank, Nigeria
The Mauritius Commercial Bank, Mauritius
Standard Chartered

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