Top Nigerian bankers, Mr. Olusegun Agbaje of Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Mr arnold Ekpe of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) shone Wednesday night at the pretigious African Bankers Awards, in Arusha, Tanzania.
Mr Agbaje received African Banker of the Year award and while Ekpe was honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award, respectively, with Access Bank Plc, one of the leading banks in Nigeria also notching the Best Bank in West Africa Award.
Group Managing Director of Gauranty Trust Bank, Agbaje was presented with his award by Director of the Private Sector Operations of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Mr Tim Turner.
ETI, the parent bank of Ecobank Nigeria Plc won the African Bank of the Year, beating six other banks in its category to win the award.
The bank was given particular credit for its continued strategic expansion throughout Middle Africa as the pan African bank. It also got strong endorsement after its $250 million investment Pension Fund deal with South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation.
The African Banker Awards celebrate excellence and best practices in African banking and finance.
The African Bankers Awards programme organised by African Banker Magazine, is part of the events on the side line of the annual meetings of AfDB.
Founder and Managing Director of the Ethiopia Commodities Exchange, Dr Eleni Gabre-Mahdin followed in the footsteps of the Nigerian Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and renowned international banker, Adebayo Ogunlesi of GIP, to win the African Banker Icon Award.
In the Best Regional Bank category, the other banks that received awards were: Attijariwafa Bank, Morocco for North Africa; BCI, Mozambique for Southern Africa; Bank of Kigali, Rwanda for East Africa; and BGFI, Gabon for Central Africa.
The ceremony was attended by Central Bank Governor for Tunisia, Dr Mustapha Kamel Nabli; Minister of Finance for Gambia, Mr Mambury Njie; Central Bank Governor for Kenya, Professor Njuguna Ndung’u; Director General of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Ms Arunma Oteh, amongst other dignitaries.
