*As Afribank posts N17.22bn PBT in 6 months

Zenith International Bank, Fidelity Bank, Intercontinental Bank, Stanbic/IBTC and two prominent Nigerian bankers, Otunba Subomi Balogun and Mr Tony Elumelu, Group Managing Director, United Bank for Africa Plc on Saturday, in Washington, won accolades from the African business community and fellow African bankers as they were honoured with awards.

The Banker Award 2008 organised by the African Business Magazine was held at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington.

Governor of the Central Bank (CBN), Professor Chukwuma Soludo and Mrs Oby Ezekwuesili were star Nigerian guests at the function.

Afribank has confirmed its rating as a fast-growing bank by posting  N17.22 billion Profit Before Tax (PBT) for the half year ended September 30, 2008.

Zenith wins Best Global Bank Award

Zenith won the Best Global Bank in Africa. Last year, the bank won the most socially responsible bank in the continent. UBA which won the award last year, emerging global bank in Africa had its managing director winning the African Banker of the year.

Stanbic/IBTC won the Best Issuing House in Africa award.

Otunba Subomi Balogun won the Life Time Achiever award in recognition of his pioneering effort in merchant banking in Nigeria. Fidelity Bank which was not represented at the annual meeting won the Socially Responsible Bank of the year award. Intercontinental Bank, on its part, won the Africa Bank of the Year award.

It was not an all Nigerian affair as other African banks were recognised and conferred with  awards.
Needbank of South Africa this year won the most gender sensitive award while the Development Bank award went to the Development Bank of Southern Africa. Standard Bank of South Africa also won Deal of the Year award as Investment Bank of the Year award went to Renaissance Capital. Micro-finance bank of the year award was won by Banque de la Habitat de Tunisia while the Most Innovative Bank award went to Ecobank Transnational, Togo.

The Central Bank Governor of Ghana was honoured with the award of Africa Central Bank Governor of the Year while the Finance Minister of Malawi was honoured with the award of Finance Minister of the Year.

Zenith Bank Assistant General Manager, Corporate Communication, Mr. Timeyin Ejoor, was on hand to receive the award on behalf of the bank.

|An international  award was also bestowed on Nigeria’s Fidelity Bank Plc at the weekend for its efforts in the area of social investing.

Fidelity wins Most Socially Responsible Bank  award

Fidelity Bank was declared Africa’s Most Socially Responsible Bank by the African Banker Magazine.
According to Mr. Omar Ben Yedder, Publisher of the African Banker which also has in its stable, the African Economy and the New African magazines, and Awards Coordinator, Anna Rosenberg, the awards are to encourage world class practices among African banks.

Fidelity Bank beat a Nigerian bank and three other nominated banks from South Africa, Egypt, Cameroon to emerge winner in the category.

According to the organizsers, Fidelity emergence was not just for spending, but focus, strategy and coordination.

Intercontinental wins African Bank of the Year Award

Also, Intercontinental Bank Plc was named African Bank of the year in the 2008 edition of African Banker Awards.

The award which is promoted by African Banker Magazine in partnership with the Corporate Council of Africa and Business in Africa Events was instituted last year to recognise the reforms, rapid modernization, consolidation, integration and expansion of the African banking industry.

Also yesterday in Washington DC, Intercontinental Bank Plc was named the “2008 Financial Brand of the Year”, by the World Bank/IMF Annual Meeting Daily.

According to the publishers of the highly rated World Bank journal, Development Economic Resource (DER) Limited, the award was in recognition of Intercontinental Bank's strong brand visibility in the global financial scene following its successful rebranding in 2007.

Elumelu named Afribank Banker

Group Managing Director of United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc, Mr Tony Elumelu, was voted African Banker of the Year 2008.

Witnessed by the Central Bank Governors, leading bankers and Finance Ministers from several African countries and other parts of the world, Elumelu emerged winner ahead of other notable bankers including Paul Fokam, President & Board Chairman, Afriland First Bank; Mahmoud Abdel Latif, Chairman/CEO, Bank of Alexandria; Mamadou Igor Diarra, CEO, Banque Internationale pour le Mali; and chief executives of two other Nigerian banks.

According to the organisers, Elumelu was voted African Banker of the Year because he has shown “exceptional dexterity, leadership and vision, consistently delivering strong financial results and broadening the reach of banking services in Africa, whilst also bringing world class practices to the industry.”

He was selected by a distinguished panel of judges including; Nkosana Moyo, Chairman of Actis Africa Advisory Board; Koosum Kalyan, Chairman of Kgontsi Holdings, South Africa; Aissa Hidoussi, CEO of Best Lease, Tunis and Tunisia’s leading banker; Dr. Virgy Anohu, leading Nigerian Mortgage banker and CEO MGSL, Nigeria as well as Christopher Hartland-Peel, Head of Africa Equity Research, Exotix.

Receiving the award on behalf of Mr Elumelu, the CEO of UBA Capital, Mr. Nandan Mer dedicated the award “to the over 20,000 employees of UBA around the world from China to Nigeria, to the United States of America, for serving our customers better everyday with innovative products and services and for powering the vision to build a model global African financial institution.”

Afribank posts N17.22 billion pbt in 6 months

Afribank's figure, which surpassed the last financial year’s 12-month result, marks a 113% increase from the N8.1 billion recorded in the corresponding period last year. This confirms the ability of the bank’s Management to sustain its success streak of growing its fundamentals above industry rate.

The aggressive change initiatives, market deepening and business expansion of the bank also resulted in the growth of its half-year Gross Earnings from N19.48 billion in September 30, 2007 to N43.43 billion this year, an increase of 123%. Profit After Tax rose by 121% from N5.51 billion in September 2007 to N12.16 billion in September 2008. Shareholders’ funds increased phenomenally from N32.53 billion to N140.57 billion a record 332% leap.

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