BY MICHAEL EBOH

Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc has been named the Best Investment Bank in Nigeria for the year 2011 by EMEA Finance Magazine.

According to a statement announcing the award, Stanbic’s parent company, Standard Bank, won EMEA Finance awards as the Best Investment Bank in seven other African countries: South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Swaziland and Tanzania.

In addition, the statement said that Standard Bank also won Best Bank in Malawi and Zimbabwe and Best Broker in Nigeria.

According to Sola David-Borha, CEO, Stanbic IBTC Bank, the bank has been a market leader in its corporate banking business in many markets and has also focused on its investment banking business to ensure that the best people and products are available to service clients.

Corporate banking

She said that the bank’s management has built on its corporate banking business platform from both the private and public sector to strengthen its investment banking franchise by building teams with strong global and domestic expertise.

She noted that investment banking is a critical delivery mechanism for banks into the key sectors: infrastructure development, commodities, oil and gas and telecommunications in Africa.

She said, “Standard Bank has seen growth in demand across Africa for its activities in investment banking including advisory services, structured finance and equity and debt capital markets.

“In support of its clients, Standard Bank has facilitated nearly $6bn in merger and acquisition finance in the last year and lending levels are as high as before the pre-global financial crisis levels of 2008.

“We will continue to invest in specialist product teams and infrastructure capacity in select African markets. We remain focused on our areas of expertise: natural resources and renewables, power and infrastructure, telecommunications and links to other key markets.”

“We will continue to position our corporate and investment business to facilitate and capture financing and advisory opportunities associated with these flows.”