Equity boss and Bank shine in Korea
Both Equity Bank and its CEO impressed in South Korea as Equity Bank and the lenders boss walked away with prizes at the African Banker Awards.
The CEO of Equity Group Holdings Plc in Kenya, James Mwangi, won Banker of the Year while his bank beat off strong competition from four other shortlisted nominees to win the coveted ‘African Bank of the Year Award’.
Kenya had entries including Kenya Commercial Bank and Agriculture Finance Corporation.
Tanzania’s former central bank governor D.r Benno Ndulu capped off East Africa’s good run winning Central Bank Governor of the year for his work in pushing for financial inclusion as well as for sound macroeconomic management. CRDB, also from Tanzania was named the ‘Regional Bank in East Africa’.
The South Africans known for the depth of their capital markets and complexities of their financial products swept the investment banking and deals of the year categories.
Standard Bank and Rand Merchant Bank in South Africa took the ‘Infrastructure Deal of the Year’ for the $5bn Nacala corridor rail and port project in Mozambique and Malawi, one of Africa’s largest private sector funded infrastructure projects.
The project covers 912km 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.
Standard Bank Group was awarded ‘Investment Bank of the Year’.
Rand Merchant Bank in South Africa was also recognized for the listing of Steinhoff Africa Retail that took place last year.
Veteran South African banker, Stephen Koseff, won the Lifetime Achievement Award. As the co-founder of Investec he has built a global leader in banking and asset management.
BGFI Bank in Gabon has won the award ‘Regional Bank of the Year’ in Central Africa.
The ‘Socially Responsible Bank of the Year’ title went to BMCE Bank of Africa, widely regarded as a leader in sustainable finance.
Le Crédit Agricole du Maroc won the award for financial inclusion. Ecobank won two awards – one for Innovation in Banking and one for Retail Bank of the year – largely for the way it has integrated technology to considerably widen its products and reach.
