By Halima Abdi
Published May 23, 2018

Ecobank won the award for innovation and also for Retail Bank of the year, largely for the way it has integrated technology to considerably widen its products and reach.Kenya’s Equity Bank and its Chief Executive Officer have won African Bank of the Year and Banker of the Year awards, respectively.

The 12th edition of the African Banker Awards, held annually on the fringes of the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank to celebrate excellence in banking and finance on the African continent, were held in Busan, South Korea.

James Mwangi, whose Equity Group Holdings Plc has seen impressive growth through a series of innovations and diversified investment channels away from consumer loans, collected the Banker of the Year award as the bank he leads beat beat off strong competition from four other shortlisted nominees to win the African Bank of the Year Award.

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Tanzania’s Dr Benno Ndulu, former Central Bank Governor who finished his second term in 2017, won Central Bank Governor of the Year award for his work in pushing for financial inclusion as well as for sound macroeconomic management.

CRDB, also from Tanzania, was named the Best Regional Bank in East Africa.

South African banks dominated the investment banking and deals of the year categories, with Standard Bank Group swooping three awards, including the one for Investment Bank of the Year.

The African Banker Awards, hosted by African Banker magazine and Business in Africa Events, are held under the high patronage of the African Development Bank. Standard Bank and Rand Merchant Bank in South Africa took the Infrastructure Deal of the Year for the US$5 billion Nacala corridor rail and port project in Mozambique and Malawi, one of Africa’s largest private sector-funded infrastructure projects. The project covers 912 kilometres of railway running from the Tete province in western Mozambique to Nacala port on the east coast through a section of Malawi. A deep sea port at Nacala also features in the project.

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Rand Merchant Bank in South Africa was also recognised for the listing of Steinhoff Africa Retail that took place in 2017.

Veteran South African banker, Stephen Koseff, won the Lifetime Achievement Award. As the co-founder of Investec, Koseff has built a global leader in banking and asset management.

James Mwangi, whose Equity Group Holdings Plc has seen impressive growth through a series of innovations and diversified investment channels away from consumer loans, collected the Banker of the Year award as the bank he leads beat beat off strong competition from four other shortlisted nominees to win the African Bank of the Year Award.The Socially Responsible Bank of the Year title went to BMCE Bank of Africa Group in Morocco that is widely regarded as a leader in sustainable finance.

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Le Credit Agricole du Maroc, also of Morocco, won the award for financial inclusion.

Ecobank won the award for innovation and also for Retail Bank of the year, largely for the way it has integrated technology to considerably widen its products and reach.

The African Banker Awards, hosted by African Banker magazine and Business in Africa Events, are held under the high patronage of the African Development Bank.

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