Nigeria’s Bank of the Year, Bank CEO of the Year unveiled tonight

Sanusi Lamido Sanusi

Tonight a new chapter in credible and authoritative recognition of performance in the banking industry will open, when BusinessDay unveils winners in its maiden Annual Banking Awards. The Awards and Dinner will hold from 5 pm at the prestigious Jasmine Hall, Expo Centre, Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, with a Red Carpet reception.

It will be the first time Nigeria’s leading and most authoritative business and financial newspaper will be conferring honours on operators of the banking industry.

Special guests of honour at this all important event are Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Babatunde Raji Fashola, governor, Lagos State; Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, governor, Kano State; and Rauf Aregbesola, governor, State of Osun.

Expectations are already high as Access Bank, FirstBank, GTBank, UBA and Zenith Bank have been nominated for Nigeria’s ‘Bank of the Year’.

The five banks have been nominated after meeting the minimum criteria for the category. The criteria used in selecting the banks include: timeliness of release of financial results, availability of financial results on bank’s website, availability of analyst presentation on bank website, loan growth, loan/deposit ratio, growth in deposits, capital adequacy ratios, non-performing loans ratio, profit before tax and growth in total assets.

For the ‘Bank CEO of the Year’ category, First Bank, GTBank and Zenith Bank CEOs have been nominated. The three banks met the minimum criteria for this category which include profit before tax, return on assets, return on equity, growth in total balance sheet and share price appreciation.

No nomination has been announced for the ‘Bank Deal of the Year’ for which the award judges will be looking at the biggest and most impactful bank finance deal in 2012, as BusinessDay research is still compiling information on the major project finance deals executed by banks last year.

For the Most Innovative Bank Product of the Year, the awards judges are looking at a unique product that not only eases banking transactions, but also has the greatest potential for financial inclusion. The bank products that have been nominated for this category of the award include: FirstMonie by First Bank, FirstBank ATM Expressions card, Diamond Bank’s Mobile Banking App; Stanbic IBTC Mobile Money and Stanbic IBTC Consumer Loan.

For the Best Bank in Support of Agriculture, the nominee banks include: First Bank, UBA and Zenith Bank. Diamond Bank, Fidelity Bank, Access Bank and Stanbic IBTC Bank were nominated by business associations and businesses as the Best Banks in Support of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) while Skye Bank, Access Bank, FCMB and Union Bank were nominated in the category of the Best Bank in Support of Manufacturing.

Diamond Bank Plc, First Bank Nigeria Plc, Zenith Bank, and GTBank have been nominated in the Most Customer Friendly Bank category based on respondents’ choices to a survey on bank customer satisfaction by BusinessDay Research and Intelligence Unit.

For the Leadership and Achievement awards, as well as the special recognition awards which will be given to an individual or individuals who have had a revolutionary impact on the Nigerian banking industry, the winners will only be revealed today.

Source: BusinessDay