The Banker Magazine has named Ecobank affiliates as “the Bank of the Year 2011” in nine African countries of Burundi, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, the Republic of Congo, Senegal and Togo.

Held at the Intercontinental Park Lane Hotel, London, the awards, which is in its twelfth year and organised by the leading global banking and finance publication, recognize the achievements of the world’s top financial institutions.

Criteria for choosing the winners included growth in assets, profitability, shareholder returns, strategic relationships, customer service, competitive pricing, innovative products and the level of support for SMEs in the post-crisis period.

Commenting on the awards, Ecobank Group CEO, Arnold Ekpe, said: “Whilst we should not fail to recognize the consistent and steady progress made by our affiliates with a track record of success in these annual awards, the accomplishments of Ecobank Burundi and Ecobank Guinea-Bissau are particularly encouraging, given the significant turnaround in financial performance that they have both achieved.”

Parent company

Incorporated in Lomé, Togo, Ecobank Transna-tional Incorporated (ETI), the parent company of the Ecobank Group, currently operates in Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad and Congo (Brazzaville).

Others are Congo (Democratic Republic), Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

ETI is listed on the stock exchanges in Lagos, Accra and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) – the BRVM.

The Group has over 24,200 employees from 35 different countries in over 1,100 branches. Ecobank is a full-service bank providing wholesale, retail, investment and transactional banking services.